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Šemeta's original proposal envisaged a 0.1 per cent tax on share and bond trades and a 0.01 per cent levy on derivatives trading from 1 January, designed to take €35 billion out of the pockets of banks and traders into national treasuries. Germany does not want to take decisions before national elections in September, while Austria and Belgium want to exempt pension funds from the bill, it added.
Šemeta said it is only natural that Member States' officials aired gripes at the last FTT meeting on 22 May because it was just the second of its kind on what is a complex law. "It is really premature to say what will be the final outcome of the situation because Member States are currently in the phase of the first reading", he said. "It's normal in the first reading that Member States go through the proposal article by article and the commission explains what each provision means."
Under the EU's so called enhanced cooperation procedure, experts from the 16 non-FTT Member States attend the meetings of the 11 pro-FTT countries but do not take part in decision-making.