Following the Ecofin meeting held earlier in the day, economic leaders from the European Union (EU) including European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn have announced that 11 out of the 27 EU members support a tax on financial transactions.

Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Portugal, Greece, Slovenia, Belgium, Estonia, Slovakia, and Austria are in favour of the so-called Tobin Tax, which aims to levy a 0.1% tax on stock and bond trades and 0.01% on derivatives.

Italy, Spain, Slovakia and Estonia are the latest countries to jump on board.

In 2011, the European Commission (EC) proposed the introduction of this tax at the EU level. However, a unanimous decision is needed in order to adopt the measure. Since it was not possible, several members supported the idea of greater cooperation in the matter.

The EC later indicated that it would wait for approval from nine members in order to move forward with the development of the proposal.

One of the members taking the most hard-lined stance is the United Kingdom, which warns that the tax would provoke a loss of financial activity. British Finance Minister George Osborne said that the tax would only be considered if all of the world's main financial centres implement it, including New York, Singapore, Shanghai, and Hong Kong.

The issue will be discussed again at the November 12th Eurogroup meeting.

MG

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