13/07/2001 (Agence Europe) - "What's got into the Belgian Government to put the Tobin tax on the agenda of the informal EcoFin Council of 22 and 23 September?" wonders Luxembourg MEP Astrid Lulling (EPP) in a press release. Ms. Lulling expresses bewilderment at this initiative, whereas the tax is very controversial and neither Guy Verhofstadt, nor Didier Reynders seem so far to have been in favour. The parliamentarian recalls that this tax on exchange operations aimed at slowing down speculation, devised in 1972 by the American economist James Tobin (who a few years later won the Nobel Prize for Economy: Ed.) was criticised by the Nobel Prize winner in 1999, Robert Mundell. You may recall that, early-2000, the EP rejected a resolution that would have asked the Commission to study the feasibility of such a tax. During the debate in plenary, Commissioner Bolkestein opposed such a measure, fearing the displacement of certain financial activities to offshore areas (see EUROPE of 22 January 2000, p.13).