Brussels, 13/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - Although no decisions are expected at the ECOFIN Council on Tuesday 13 November on the question of formally allowing enhanced cooperation to set up a financial transactions tax (FTT) in 11 member states (see EUROPE 10711), the Netherlands says it is prepared to join the FTT. However, the Dutch finance minister said three strings would be attached - the income raised should not be used as an “own resource” to boost EU coffers; the impact of the tax must be proportionate to other bank industry taxation; and the FTT should not adversely affect Dutch pension funds.
In the past, the British finance minister regretted that the Commission's draft legislation authorising enhanced cooperation had not included details from the Commission of how the tax would actually work, details needed to judge whether authorisation of said measure was legitimate. In response, EU Taxation Commissioner Algirdas Semeta said it was important to keep both items of legislation separate and there was not enough time (a week) for his department to draw up fully detailed proposals. Explaining the various stages of the procedure, the Council of Ministers' legal department warned that unveiling of a Commission proposal on details of the tax at the moment would require examination by all 27 member states, which in turn would mean that in the event of disagreement the entire procedure would have to start again from scratch. The Belgian finance minister agreed, saying that the procedure was not meant to generate simultaneous authorisation and technical details. The Polish finance minister said that the request for a proposal, even an informal proposal, was aimed at allaying concern in non-participating countries about how the FTT might impact on them via a domino effect. France and Germany said speed was of the essence, and Commissioner Semeta responded to that by saying that his department would speed up the procedure, but the real work would begin once the proposal has been published, which would probably be in December, once use of the enhanced mechanism for the tax has been authorised. (FG/transl.fl)