The finance ministers of the ten countries participating in the enhanced cooperation on financial transactions tax (FTT) did not end up meeting during the evening of Monday 22 May, contrary to what was announced.
It was France that called for the meeting to be postponed. Upon his arrival at the meeting of the 'Economic and Financial Affairs' Council on Tuesday morning, the country's minister of the economy, Bruno Le Maire, explained firstly that the meeting to discuss Greece had been very long (the fact that the FTT meeting had been cancelled had already been announced), and secondly, there was “Brexit. We have to be able to quantify the consequences before we make any decisions on the FTT”, he said.
For the time being, according to our information, ministers have made no plans to meet on the sidelines of the forthcoming Eurogroup meeting, to be held in Luxembourg in June. The Commission states that it stands ready to facilitate the discussions. Over the weekend, the Austrian finance minister was quoted in the press as stating that nine countries have said 'yes' to the compromise put forward in March. Belgium has yet to take a position officially. (Original version in French by Élodie Lamer)