Financial transaction tax should bring in EUR 10 bn: France

(PARIS) - A financial transaction tax in the 11 EU states which support such a levy would probably raise more than 10 billion euros per year, French European Affairs Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Tuesday.

Eleven eurozone countries are in favour of introducing such levies, but still needed to agree on which transactions and at what rates, he said on the French parliamentary television channel.

"It is difficult to indicate what the result will be but one can estimate that it will be several billion euros, probably above 10 billion ($13.0 billion)," Cazeneuve said.

Earlier this month, 11 eurozone states led by France and Germany declared themselves in favour of pushing forward with a financial transaction tax under the EU's "enhanced cooperation" rules that allow groups of states pioneer policies with the approval of the rest of the bloc.

Attempts by the European Commission in June to introduce such a tax -- aimed at curbing the market excesses that led to the 2008 global financial crisis -- failed to win enough support across the full EU, in part due to British concerns over the City of London's future.

The European Commission intents to make a financial transaction tax proposal during the next meeting of eurozone finance ministers on November 13, and hopes for reaching an agreement by the end of the year.

Under the Commission's earlier proposals, a tax of 0.1 percent would have been levied on share and bond trades, and 0.01 percent on other transactions.

Cazeneuve said that had such a tax been applied across the full EU it would have likely raised 57 billion euros.