Brussels, 15/12/2011 (Agence Europe) - France wants to press ahead with plans to introduce a financial transaction tax (FTT) in the European Union. The French finance minister, François Baroin, told the French parliament on Wednesday 14 December that France and Germany would be submitting suggestions to this effect before the next Franco-German summit (on 23 January 2012), saying it would be an additional suggestion to supplement the one unveiled by the European Commission in September 2011 (see EUROPE 10462) on the introduction of an FTT in the EU in 2014, which it is claimed could net up to €55 billion a year.
Baroin said that France and Germany want progress in the first six months of next year and are currently discussing what the tax should be levied on (the French government wants it to extend further than planned by the Commission, in order to drum up as much cash as possible), what should be done with the income, which could be used for foreign aid to poor countries or go straight into the EU's coffers. In the event of the latter, the Commission's idea is that some of the income would go to the EU's budget and the rest to the member states' budgets, to cut their deficits.
France and Germany disagree on what should be done with the tax. Baroin said he was leaving options open in terms of the final destination of the tax revenue, but Germany is said to be far more reluctant for the tax to feed into the EU's coffers. The two countries will need to iron out their differences in this connection if they are to submit a common approach.
Italy's new prime minister, Mario Monti, recently spoke out in favour of an FTT (see EUROPE 10516), but it seems premature to talk about other countries joining France and Germany at this stage. Likewise, it is too soon to say how long it will take the draft directive unveiled by the Commission at the 9 November ECOFIN Council to be introduced, due to resistance from a number of member states (like the United Kingdom) and the far-reaching and complicated talks on the EU's own funding resources and the financial perspectives for 2013-2020. (FG/transl.fl)