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Financial Transaction Tax: towards enhanced
cooperation?
09/10/2012
At today's meeting of the ECOFIN Council,
ministers discussed the state of play as regards the
possible introduction of a financial transaction tax
(FTT) under enhanced cooperation.
In June 2012, after it had become clear that the
Commission proposal to introduce an EU-wide FTT did not
muster the required unanimous support in the Council,
the European Council suggested that a decision on
enhanced cooperation, allowing fewer Member States to
proceed with such a tax, should be taken before the end
of the year.
© Council of the European Union The procedure to be followed is defined in Article 20 of
the Treaty on European Union and Articles 326 to 334 of
the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. In
a nutshell, this procedure requires the participation of at least nine Member States and implies that a qualified
majority of all 27 Member States support the establishment of enhanced cooperation. The design of the tax
itself is to be agreed by the participating Member States unanimously. Cooperation remains open to any other
Member State at any time.
It was confirmed in the Council yesterday that seven Member States had already sent a request for enhanced
cooperation to the Commission, while four more have expressed their wish to follow suit. The Commission
informed ministers that once at least nine Member States had sent a request, it would examine them with a
view to submitting a proposal for the establishment of enhanced cooperation as soon as possible.
For the time being, the Council will "continue to monitor the developments", as Mr Vassos Shiarly, the Cyprus
minister presiding over the meeting, concluded. The ECOFIN Council will come back to this issue in November
this year.
More information:
Council press release (pdf)
Press conference (video)
Public deliberation (video)
TV Newsroom (videos)