The Anti Tax Avoidance Package adopted by the European Commission (EC) on 28 January 2016 is the Commission's answer to the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project delivered in 2015. It is composed of four documents: a proposal for an Anti Tax Avoidance Directive (ATAD); a Communication on an External Strategy for Effective Taxation; the amendment to the Directive on mutual assistance to apply automatic exchange of information to country-by-country reporting; and the recommendation on tax treaties adding the 'genuine economic activity' test to the Principal Purpose Test (PPT) rule. The aforementioned EC Package is meaningful in many respects. It is a relevant sign that the European Union (the European Parliament and the European Commission) is taking the BEPS actions seriously; it is a bold follow-up to the EC Recommendations of 6 December 2012, the amendments of the Parent-Subsidiary Directive and the proposal for amendment to the Interest and Royalties Directive; it is also an interesting exercise in interpreting the G20/OECD BEPS ideals, because it is a regional implementation of the BEPS holistic approach, which is much more consistent with the BEPS spirit, than the unilateral measures that have been taken by some EU Member States. In fact, even though the BEPS actions are meant to reduce gaps and disparities, their openness and ambiguity is deceiving (even though the multilateral instrument envisaged by Action 15, the BEPS Action Plan will reduce discretion). Their unilateral implementation is leading to the enactment of different national measures and therefore, again, to disparities. From an international perspective, the EC Anti Tax Avoidance Package is an acknowledgment that there is no single international standard, but rather coexisting national or regional interests on policies attracting investment, tax competition and tax protectionism. This article focuses on selected critical aspects in the ATAD Proposal and in the Communication on an External Strategy for Effective Taxation.