Huge step forward for European Financial Transactions Tax campaign

At the recent ECOFIN Meeting  , 11  governments have  agreed to implement a financial transaction tax – that’s two more than the 9 minimum that were needed to kick off the enhanced cooperation procedure.
The 11 pro FTT  are  France, Italy, Spain, Germany , Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Greece, Portugal, Slovakia and Slovenia.
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/ecofin/132771.pdf

The next steps are

1. European Commission submits a FTT  proposal likely to be based on the  existing proposal of 0.1% on stock and bonds and 0.01% on derivatives
2. EU parliament  gives its assent  (EP has already expressed its support its support for an EU FTT twice)
3. European Council’s qualified majority vote to go ahead with the enhanced procedure

Timetable is uncertain, perhaps  the above can be done by the end of the year, no doubt there will be remaining fights over the design of the tax and allocation of the revenues but the agreement shows political will which  is what we needed.

EU tax Commissioner Śemeta said "Today we have received a clear – and very welcome - signal that there will be enough member states on board for an EU Financial Transactions Tax," … "I proposed this tax as a source of new revenue from an under-taxed sector, and a means of encouraging more responsible trading. It would also prevent a patchwork of national bank taxes from creating difficulties for businesses in the Single Market," he added.
This is a big success for all FTT campaigners  and an encouragement to others to  join in.

Advice from EPSU Secretariat http://www.epsu.org