Brussels, 19/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - At the European Parliament's economic affairs committee on Thursday 18 February, acting chair of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said in response to a question from MEP Werner Langen (EPP, Germany) about the enhanced cooperation process to set up a financial transactions tax (FTT): “There is a formal procedure of setting up the group and there's a formal procedure for leaving the group which could damage the enhanced cooperation, as far as I know none of the eleven countries have left. Some are more enthusiastic than others.” The Netherlands is not involved in this enhanced cooperation on FTT.
In December 2015, Estonian finance minister Sven Sester said he didn't have the necessary negotiating mandate and therefore would not be able to adopt a tax in the form proposed at that stage (see EUROPE 11448). Dijsselbloem noted that there was a formal process for joining enhanced cooperation and also a formal process for leaving the group, but this could damage the enhanced cooperation. The Netherlands therefore feels that the oral statement by the Estonian minister in December does not suffice when it comes to withdrawing from the process. Estonia says it made things clear, but will all the same send a letter in the next few weeks notifying its withdrawal.
The Council's legal department wrote in an opinion dated 10 February (see EUROPE 11488): “No modification of the authorising decision is required for the withdrawal of a member state to take effect. In the absence of any formality required by the Treaties, a member state wishing to withdraw from enhanced cooperation should simply notify its intention to the Council and to the Commission in written form or through a statement delivered at a Council meeting. (…) In the absence of any formality required by the Treaties, a member state wishing to withdraw from enhanced cooperation should simply notify its intention to the Council and to the Commission in written form or through a statement delivered at a Council meeting. No further act of the Council and/or of the Commission is necessary for the notification to take effect.”
The remaining member states, explains the legal service, will be free to adopt the act establishing enhanced cooperation without the member state that has withdrawn as long as sufficient member states remain. Nine countries are required for enhanced cooperation.
Belgium and Slovenia have already expressed doubts and fears, and Austria, which chairs the discussions at ministerial level, is trying to rally the troops. In a letter to his peers, the Austrian finance minister said that the talks had focused on defining future exemptions to the tax and suggested setting an income target for the tax within the range of between €15 billion and €20 billion (see EUROPE 11490). The ministers are due to meet on the fringes of the Eurogroup, Ecofin meetings of 7 and 8 March. (Original version in French by Elodie Lamer)