France and Germany push for transaction tax

Germany and France are pressing ahead with their plan for a tax on financial transactions in the European Union by raising the issue for discussion at the bloc’s next meeting of finance ministers early next week.

In a letter to the Belgian EU presidency, Wolfgang Schäuble, German finance minister, and his French counterpart Christine Lagarde asked for “an informal discussion” at Tuesday’s session of the EU’s Ecofin council.

“Germany and France will jointly make proposals for discussion in order to carry forward a European solution,” the ministers said in the letter, seen by the Finanical Times, and called the tax “both feasible and necessary”.

The letter marks the start of what looks set to be a controversial discussion among EU members – as they seek to implement EU-wide bank levies and tougher regulation of banks and banker bonuses.

In parallel to national efforts, EU countries have asked the European Commission to consider the feasibility of introducing such a tax in Europe and to make suggestions of its own as to how one could be implemented.

The initiative comes three weeks after the EU’s driving duo failed to get a global agreement about a transaction tax at the G20 summit in Toronto – both countries at the time promised a European initiative instead. By raising the issue at the Ecofin council, these two countries are signalling that the tax remains a priority.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e64dd66c-8b49-11df-a4b4-00144feab49a.html

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