EU gives member states green light to introduce Financial Transaction Tax

Jay OwenReforming Global Finance

EU gives member states green light to introduce Financial Transaction Tax

 

EUROPE – European Union finance ministers have given 11 member states the green light to implement the controversial Financial Transaction Tax (FTT).

The news comes a month after a majority of MEPs gave the same member states the go-ahead to introduce the so-called Tobin tax.

In September 2011, the European Commission issued a proposal for the introduction of a directive containing an FTT of 0.1% for bond and equity transactions and 0.01% for derivatives transactions.

While France and Germany – the countries that originally pushed for the tax – received support from Belgium, Austria, Slovenia, Portugal and Greece, one more member state’s approval had been needed in order to employ ‘enhanced cooperation’.

In October 2012, Italy, Spain, Estonia and Slovakia pledged support for the tax, bringing the number of member states backing the FTT to 11, higher than the minimum of nine countries required under Commission rules to trigger enhanced cooperation.

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