Brussels, 06/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - The finance ministers of the eleven countries involved in enhanced cooperation on the financial transactions tax (FTT) will meet on Monday 9 November after the Eurogroup meeting.
Little information has filtered out about the contents of their talks, but it seems clear that they will not reach any decisions. It's an issue on which new problems keep on being found, explained a diplomat on Friday. Another source said that Belgium (which still has concerns about its life-insurance and pensions sector), Spain (due to its imminent elections) and also Italy to a certain extent are still blocking the prospects of any agreement being reached but the same diplomat said that most participating countries would like one exception or another to the tax.
On Tuesday 10 November, the Ecofin Council is expected to briefly examine the matter in the Any other business section of the meeting. People say that the 8 December meeting will be very important and a statement from the eleven counties is likely, whether or not agreement is reached. Given that general elections will be held in Spain at the end of December, it seemly unlikely that the current Spanish finance minister could commit to anything at this point in time, explained the same diplomat. (Original version in French by Elodie Lamer)