Brussels, 16/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - The regions unreservedly support the financial transaction tax (FTT) and call for it to be put in place as quickly as possible, in a harmonised way across the European Union. In their adoption of the report by Ralf Christoffers (Germany, PES), at the plenary session of the Committee of the Regions (CoR) on Wednesday 15 February, the members of the committee are calling on the European institutions to do all in their power to speed up the creation of the FTT. We should even pre-empt it ahead of the deadline set by the Commission of 2014, using the enhanced cooperation instrument, the CoR suggests. The regions stress the need to avoid the fragmentation of the internal market for financial services. This is an indirect reference to France, which has announced its intention of setting a tax of this kind in place at national level. The CoR is therefore firmly opposed to any lone outrider, feeling that the EU27 should align on joint rules, in order to ensure the full effectiveness of the Tobin tax. Additionally, the CoR would like to see the initial proposals of the European Commission amended so that the rate of 0.1% of the tax is applied to all transactions, including derivatives (currently under a proposal of 0.01%). The representatives of the regions would also like all types of cash transactions to be subject to the tax, but do not wish the tax to apply to specialist credit institutions lending to the public sector. (MD/transl.fl)