Brussels, 10/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - Broad consensus emerged at the European Parliament on Monday 9 January at the economic and monetary affairs committee over the idea of a financial transaction tax (FTT) or Tobin tax in the EU, or at least in the eurozone, as the MEPs discussed the draft directive on an FTT unveiled by the European Commission in September 2011 (see EUROPE 10462). Only the spokespersons for the ECR and EFD, the Conservatives and the Right, openly opposed the new legislation (for which the EP has the right to issue an opinion)
Several MEPs said they had changed their minds in recent months and now supported the tax, which suggests that the idea has greater backing at the EP now than it did a few months ago.
Anni Podimata (S&D, Greece), rapporteur on the draft directive, said it was balanced and covered a wide range of products while set at a very low rate, and therefore should cover most transactions and prevent companies moving out of the EU to avoid it. It would apply to frequency more than size and therefore stabilise markets and channel investment towards the real economy by penalising high-frequency, speculative trades. Levied uniformly across the EU to transactions for which at least one of the parties is registered in the EU, it would avoid the scattering of financial services and dumping through uncoordinated, unilateral taxation measures, she said. Podimata suggested combining the head office rule with the country where the security was issued, in order to cover transactions by institutions not registered in the EU. Commenting on the resistance at the Council of Ministers to this idea, she said that an EU27 agreement had to be the ultimate objective as far as the EP was concerned because budget coordination was simply not enough and greater coordination of taxation had to be achieved to ensure fair economic policy in the EU27, particularly in the eurozone.
Most political parties back this view. Speaking for a wide majority of MEPs, Sirpa Pietikäinen (EPP, Finland) said the tax should be introduced in all eurozone nations at the very least. Pascal Canfin (Greens/EFA, France) rejected the view that the cost of the tax would be shifted to ordinary consumers because the tax mainly applies to high frequency deals. Jürgen Klute (GUE/NGL, Germany) welcomed the intention to get the financial industry to pay some of the cost of the financial crisis at last. Czech MEP Ivo Strejcek (ECR) set out his party's opposition to the tax, saying that banks should not pay the price for the countries responsible for sparking the crisis. Marta Andreasen (EFD, UK) expressed her party's opposition. Anni Podimata's report will be submitted on 28 February, voted upon in April by the economic and monetary affairs committee and then by the plenary in June 2012. (FG/transl.fl)