Two finance ministers, France’s Michel Sapin and Austria’s Hans-Jörg Schelling, issued a joint plea to nine other finance ministers who had – back in 2013 – agreed to proceed with the tax. With this letter they “hope to breathe new life into talks on the FTT”.
The financial transaction tax has been described as a zombie policy which “may go undead for many years to come” without ever materializing. 2014 saw the FTT repeatedly watered down, until the enhanced cooperation turned into a deadlock. France wished to protect its derivatives trading sector while Austria rejected the idea of a “fig-leaf tax announced for political reasons to counter evil speculators.”
However, 2015 seems to bring new wind into the negotiations. Instead of the 2014 lowest-common-denominator approach, Sapin and Schelling suggest the FTT to have “the largest possible base and low rates”. In order to prevent financial industries from fleeing member states with FTT, the authors advise to “carefully decide on the tax’s technical aspects”.
The letter – which among other issues regrets the lack of technical and logistical support from EU institutions – is also copied to Commissioner Moscovici. In a written answer to Jérôme Lavrilleux (January 23 2015), Moscovici assures that “the Commission stands ready to continue offering all technical support needed towards an ambitious agreement (...)”.
The letter has also inspired European Banks to issue a joint statement to the eleven EU finance ministers, warning that this broad-based approach will negatively impact financial activities.