9 Member States call for a European Financial Transaction Tax
On 8 February, 9 Member States called for a the intr is the number of countries you need for enhanced cooperation. This is an ambiguous message.
Indeed in the autumn, the European Commission has introduced a proposal for an EU FTT - which meant having 27 Member States fully on board, as you need unanimity in the Council of Ministers to take a decision on tax issues. Since then, a small number of countries, led the UK, the Netherlands and Sweden, have blocked the FTT in the Council, thus taking hostage a majority of EU countries, in favour of an FTT.
But the European Union provides a tool in this kind of situation. The enhanced cooperation allows a coalition of the willing to go ahead with introducing common legislation on a specific issue. For that, you need at least 9 countries - the exact number of countries who called for an FTT yesterday.
These include: France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Spain, Finland, Greece and Portugal.
You will find some press links below for more information.
European Voice:
EU News:
http://www.european-union-news.com/?news_id=7146
Euractiv:
http://www.euractiv.com/euro-finance/countries-push-financial-transaction-tax-news-510650