Memorandum to the new Belgian Presidency
However financial regulation is not enough to restore social justice. Those who are responsible for the crisis through irresponsible collective behaviour will have to bear a good part of the burden that our societies will have to carry in the future. The ETUC demands the application of the ‘polluter pays’ principle to financial markets and asks the Belgian presidency to start working on a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) model law at EU level and beyond, based on the WIFO and Spahn proposals. A Europe-wide tax on financial transactions would be applicable to all traders and not to countries and as such independent of the location of prominent financial centres. At the same time, significant tax revenue could be generated, which could be used to support social policy at European level in the aftermath of the crisis.
The ETUC expects the Belgian Presidency to propose that the G20 adopts a financial transactions tax and tough regulations on banks, hedge funds and other wilder animals of the financial jungle, of Wall Street.
ETUC insists therefore that funding for public services needs to be underpinned by appropriate fiscal policy measures, including the introduction of fairer and progressive taxation systems, including financial transaction tax, as well as improving the efficiency of tax collection.