Brussels, 11/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - In an opinion submitted to the member states, the legal services of the Council of the EU confirmed, on Thursday 11 February, that there was no formal procedure for Estonia to be able to leave the enhanced cooperation on the financial transactions tax (see EUROPE 11456). The declaration of the Estonian finance minister at the Ecofin Council of 8 December 2015 will also not be sufficient to finalise its departure.
Readers may recall that during the public debate, the minister said that he did not have the necessary mandate and was unable to adopt the tax as proposed at this stage (see EUROPE 11448). At the time, and more recently, the Commission said that its exit was only temporary, which is not in fact the case. Additionally, Estonia appears to hope to avoid making a further statement at an Ecofin Council and is reported to be planning to send a letter in the next few weeks instead, to give the Commission and the Council formal notice of its departure from the FTT. No other actions will be necessary for this notification to take effect.
A number of rumours incidentally indicate that there are differences in legal interpretations between the services of the Council and those of the Commission. However, Estonia has not raised the issue with the legal services of the Commission. (Original version in French by Elodie Lamer)