Wolfgang Schäuble, the German finance minister, will push for the financial transaction tax, despite opposition from the UK as well as several banks. He holds that efforts should be made to convince more nations to join the 11 who already declared their intention to participate in the tax.
The measure under consideration is intended to oblige financial institutions to contribute to the public purse. The FTT was up for discussion again on Saturday in Luxembourg, with the talks focusing on the scope of the tax, applicable at this stage to shares and derivatives, as well as specific exemptions. Pierre Moscovici, EU Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, said that important progress has been made.
Mr. Schäuble hopes that all member states will adopt the tax and considers that the refusal by some countries to participate would sit awkwardly with the plans to better integrate capital markets across the entire bloc.
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