Euro-MPs back tax on financial transactions in vote
(STRASBOURG) - European lawmakers backed Tuesday the introduction of a tax on financial transactions they said could raise 200 billion euros per year to finance EU projects.
Euro MPs voted 360 for and 299 against a call for the European Union to encourage such a tax at a global level, after German Chancellor Angela Merkel said finance ministers from the 17-nation eurozone should examine ways to implement one.
Oxfam's Sebastien Fourmy said the resolution passed "against all expectations," and hailed the "excellent news" that lawmakers across all shades of political opinion now supported what he called a "Robin Hood tax."
The idea still faces substantial opposition, both within the 27-state EU bloc, where the likes of Britain fears capital flight to overseas jurisdictions, and among international partners, notably Canada.
"We can't make a unilateral decision without having studied the effects on EU finance centres' competitiveness," said conservative French lawmaker Jean-Paul Gauzes, whose position was also backed by EU taxation commissioner Algirdas Semeta.
Supporters suggested that a tax rate of between 0.01 and 0.05 percent could generate 200 billion annually, and that "such a minimal rate" would not weaken EU competitiveness.
Britain, France and Germany have secured backing from influential partners including the Netherlands to push for a freeze on the EU's budget over the remainder of the decade, a drive that lies behind a greater push among backers of further EU integration for it to be able to raise more of its own monies, as opposed to relying on funding from its member states.
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