Appealing to governments to stick to proposals for the introduction of a financial transaction tax (FTT), despite 'cynical' legal manoeuvring, Portuguese MEP Marisa Matias said the EU has a clear choice: “Either we rescue politics and our society from financial markets or we can start to say goodbye to a common European project.”

 

“When entire populations were called on to pay for the crisis, 'proportionality' was not taken into consideration. Activities with genuine economic substance, which the Council's legal service seems so keen to defend now, were not protected from financial dictates,” she said referring to a leaked legal opinion from Council on proposals for the tax.

 

“The reference to the 'non liability' of making the financial sector contribute to the costs of the crisis is a rather cynical and shockingly clear message throughout the entire document. If governments want to be accountable to citizens, they simply can’t take this opinion into account.”

 

Set to be adopted by 11 EU countries under the 'enhanced cooperation' method, talks on the FTT are ongoing with adoption expected in January 2014.

 

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