S&D Euro MPs today urged EU finances ministers who will meet next Monday in Brussels to agree on an "ambitious and strong Financial Transaction Tax (FTT)".
In a letter to the finances ministers of 11 EU member states involved in the project, S&D Group leader Gianni Pittella, S&D Group vice-president Maria João Rodrigues and S&D Group spokeswoman on economic and monetary affairs, Elisa Ferreira voiced concerns about "the impact of some of the technical issues currently on the negotiating table".
"It is important that this work does not dilute the political objectives of the FTT or pay lip service to the interest of the financial sector", they write.
"The FTT needs to avoid any large exemptions for financial actors or specific markets in order to minimise the risk of avoidance. In particular, transactions in interest rate derivatives should fall within the FTT’s scope. It is also important that each financial transaction is taxed, including intra-day transactions, not only net settled positions at the end of a day. Intra-day transactions not only represent most of the trading volume in many financial instruments but they are also the basis of the most harmful and speculative trading strategies the FTT is supposed to discourage, they add.
"They also recalled that only a strong FTT will generate significant revenues that would allow governments to finance investments to boost growth and job creation at a time when they are most needed", conclude Gianni Pittella, Maria João Rodrigues and Elisa Ferreira.
