Brussels, 28/09/2012 (Agence Europe) - German Finance Minsiter Wolfgang Schäuble and French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici have written to their EU27 counterparts and the European Commission in order to get the ball rolling for the planned tax on financial transactions (FTT) (which has been at a standstill since the summer) in order to have it introduced using “enhanced cooperation” explain reports published on Friday 28 September.
In a letter to their counterparts, the two ministers urge them to show their desire to participate in “enchanced cooperation” to levy a financial transactions tax based on the draftdirective unveiled by the European Commission (0.1% on shares and bonds and 0.01% on other financial products), to be levied in at least nine participating member states. Other countries are urged to send requests to this effect to the Commission as soon as possible, so as to reach the quorum of states (nine) needed for enhanced cooperation by December this year. The Commission would then draw up a draft formal decisions of the Council of Ministers allowing the formation of “enhanced cooperation”. In a separate letter, the two ministers ask the Commission to accelerate the process by seeing whether the criteria have been met to launch enhanced cooperation.
A European Commission spokesperson welcomed the Franco-German initiative, pointing out that the tax had great potential, even if only levied by a small group of countries.
The June 2012 ECOFIN Council (see EUROPE 10640) revealed that it would not be possible to get agreement on an FTT among all 27 member states based on the draft directive unveiled by the Commission and it would have to be introduced on a smaller scale by means of enhanced cooperation. France, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Slovenia, Spain, Portugal, Hungary and Greece said they wanted to join enhanced cooperation, while other countries, like Italy, Poland, Estonia, Slovakia, Finland and Poland, were less enthusiastic or said they would only join under certain conditions. The FTT idea may be discussed at the 9 October ECOFIN Council meeting in Luxembourg. (FG/transl.fl)