There is clearly a gap between the "expectations created" regarding the future financial transactions tax (FTT) and the actual discussions between the member states, the German finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, said on Tuesday 6 December, adding that enhanced cooperation was not the best way forward.
Schäuble argues that "enhanced cooperation is not the perfect instrument" for a tax of this kind, which cannot be seen so far as a success story, he told the public session of the meeting of the Ecofin Council. In this context, he reiterated his idea of a global tax on which he plans to invite the OECD to take a position when it holds the Presidency of the G20 next year.
The Austrian finance minister, Hans Joerg Schelling, on the other hand, believes that an agreement on the FTT involving the enhanced cooperation model was possible in 2017.
When asked about the possibility that the European Commission will think twice before considering enhanced cooperation on taxation issues, the Vice-President of the institution, Valdis Dombrovskis, said that it was first and foremost up to the member states to decide whether or not they wish to go down this road.
The countries participating in the FTT did not end up meeting on the sidelines of the Council. They were theoretically expected to officially agree on the outlines of a legislative text describing the future tax, but discussions are still stumbling over the treatment to be reserved for pension funds and how to protect the real economy from a negative impact. Joint compromise proposals have been submitted by Belgium and Slovakia, which seem to be more or less isolated on this point. Discussions will therefore continue at technical level in December and a further ministerial meeting of the ten will be held in January.
During the discussions on Tuesday, the Dutch finance minister, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, whose country is not participating in the FTT, reiterated his concerns for Dutch pension funds. According to figures put together by the industry, the FTT would cost Dutch pension funds €400 million a year as things stand. If the Netherlands applied the FTT, it would cost the Dutch sector €1.2 billion. (Original version in French by Élodie Lamer)