Brussels, 08/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - The discussion between the ten Finance Ministers of the states participating in the enhanced cooperation on the financial transactions tax, on Monday 7 March, did not lead to any substantial progress.
As the French minister, Michel Sapin, explained, “at least two countries” are currently “experiencing a politically unstable situation, which makes it hard for them to make decisions on this subject”. Indeed, following the elections over the weekend, Slovakia is awaiting the formation of a future government, as is Spain.
The Commissioner for Taxation, Pierre Moscovici, dismissed the point, going no further than to explain that the meeting had ended with the desire to continue the work being expressed and a meeting set for June, a new deadline set by the participating states in December to reach an agreement.
Austria, which is chairing the ministerial discussions on the dossier, proposed that they look at the problem the other way round and, having discussed exemptions to the future tax at length, instead set targets in terms of the income tax it may generate. During the meeting, not all of the states are reported to have expressed their own expectations in this regard. However, a diplomatic source explained that by way of example, the Belgian stock exchange tax netted some €200 million a year. Theoretically, therefore, the FTT would not have to bring in any less.
According to a source close to the talks, the meeting broke no new ground and discussions are still at deadlock, as they have been for several months. (Original version in French by Elodie Lamer)