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Enhanced cooperation is an instrument foreseen by the European treaties and is subject to various conditions such as the requirement for at least nine EU Member States to participate – which they do by submitting a corresponding request to the European Commission.
The Proposal for a Council Directive on a common system of financial transaction tax of 28 September 2012 is to serve as the basis for the enhanced cooperation. Supported by the French, German and other governments, the proposal had, however, previously failed to obtain unanimous approval in the ECOFIN Council which is required for legislative acts in the field of taxation. Given that it will not be possible to attain such unanimous approval within an appropriate timeframe, a number of Member States expressed their interest in pursuing the matter in a smaller group by means of enhanced cooperation.
In a further joint letter, the French and German ministers approached their counterparts in the other Member States inviting them to join the initiative and submit an identically worded request to the European Commission.
By jointly submitting their request, Germany and France are expressing the need for European integration on financial market taxation with respect, among other aspects, to mitigating the consequences of the financial crisis. The German and French governments will continue to advocate strongly the integration process and petition the other Member States in order to achieve the broadest possible level of participation in the enhanced cooperation.