1/4% Tax on all stock trades pushed in NY Times today

[Explorer]

Quote from listedguru:

Doesn't sound like a firm no from Denmark. I like that they are saying it would have to be global but then they say they are open to discussions regarding speeding up the process?

It's just crazy. The PM's say one thing while the Finmin's say another. Let's just hope they bring this up for a vote soon and everyone goes their seperate ways.

-Guru

Thorning-Schmidt does sound less firm than before. I hope it's not because of Sarkozy's bullying:

After all, when, during the last EU summit Thorning-Schmidt spoke about the importance of getting the EU’s new treaty approved by all 27 member states, French President Nicolas Sarkozy reportedly told her: “You’re an ‘out’, a small out, and you’re new. We don’t want to hear from you.”

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120122/opinion/Denmark-s-EU-presidency-priorities.403337

 

[Explorer]

On Tuesday, France struggled to attact interest when it presented its blueprint for a tax on financial transactions to an audience of EU finance ministers.

"The debate was short," said one EU official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/24/eu-derivatives-idUSL5E8CO3E620120124

 

[tomdavis]

Quote from Explorer:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/24/eu-derivatives-idUSL5E8CO3E620120124

The last sentence of this quote from the article is a classic:

"The French are overwhelmingly in favour of this tax -- both left and right wing voters -- for cultural and historic reasons," said Stephane Rozes, professor of political sciences at French university HEC Sciences Po. "They want to make their economy more independent from finance, which many now see as an obstacle to development. From an economic point of view it makes no sense."

 

[Explorer]

S&P downgrades French banks

The loss of France’s long-cherished triple A sovereign debt status spilt over into its banking sector on Tuesday as Standard & Poor’s cut its long-term ratings for Société Générale and Crédit Agricole, two of the country’s top three banks.[...]

[...]The moves had been widely anticipated since S&P cut the sovereign rating to double A plus on December 13. But they added to the pressure on the banks as they work to meet new capital requirements and face growing political threats of a financial transaction tax and possible separation of commercial and investment banking operations.[...]

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9d499486-4675-11e1-89a8-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1kP4hkMa8

 

[Rantany]

French Fin Min: Drafting Temporary Financial Transaction Tax

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20120124-711327.html

PARIS (Dow Jones)--French Finance Minister Francois Baroin said Tuesday his government is working to implement a temporary financial transaction tax, which will be adopted while European Union institutions work on a directive.

"The process of drafting a directive is long and France wants to address a very strong message in the meantime," Baroin said at a National Assembly hearing.

"We're working on a system which can be operational on its own, which would prefigure what will be the financial transaction tax as soon as the directive is adopted," the minister said. "The new tax will replace the one we'll submit to you."

-------------------------

Quote from Explorer:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/24/eu-derivatives-idUSL5E8CO3E620120124

Other EU countries including Italy and Belgium are open to the idea but undecided. "The discussion on transaction tax is unavoidable," said Elio Di Rupo, Belgium's prime minister after meeting Italian premier Mario Monti.

Interesting: i always thought that Belgium was a strong proponent of the tax, even if EZ only.

 

[tomdavis]

Quote from Rantany:

French Fin Min: Drafting Temporary Financial Transaction Tax

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20120124-711327.html



-------------------------




Interesting: i always thought that Belgium was a strong proponent of the tax, even if EZ only.

Perhaps reality is setting in:
(a) an EZ-27 agreement is impossible (Britain, Sweden, the Czech Republic and probably Denmark against the FTT)
(b) an EZ-17 agreement is close to impossible (Malta, Cyprus, Ireland, Slovenia and probably the Netherlands against the FTT)
(c) the best they can get is a dozen or so EZ countries banding together with Merkozy to form a weak FTT zone.

Some pro-FTT countries like Belgium have to be asking themselves if they really want to be a part of choice "c" above, especially when they know their financial sector can move across a border to avoid the tax.

 

[Explorer]

[Anders Borg] said Sweden would be willing to listen to a new proposal for a European financial transaction tax if the Commission addressed some of the problems with its existing proposal.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/25/eurozone-sweden-borg-idUSL5E8CP3AG20120125

Sweden's finance minister also said his country is open to looking at a compromise on implementing a financial transaction tax. Previously, Sweden warned that its attempt to do so in the past was too harmful to the economy and its financial sector.

http://www.nasdaq.com/article/swedi...all-key-to-solving-debt-crisis-20120125-00876

WTF?

 

[Stok]

Quote from Explorer:

[Anders Borg] said Sweden would be willing to listen to a new proposal for a European financial transaction tax if the Commission addressed some of the problems with its existing proposal.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/25/eurozone-sweden-borg-idUSL5E8CP3AG20120125

Sweden's finance minister also said his country is open to looking at a compromise on implementing a financial transaction tax. Previously, Sweden warned that its attempt to do so in the past was too harmful to the economy and its financial sector.

http://www.nasdaq.com/article/swedi...all-key-to-solving-debt-crisis-20120125-00876

WTF?

WTF is right! This is NOT good news if true...Sweden is an anchor of our rebuttals!

 

[sheda]

Sweden's finance minister also said his country is open to looking at a compromise on implementing a financial transaction tax. Previously, Sweden warned that its attempt to do so in the past was too harmful to the economy and its financial sector

Beyond words.

 

[kalinka]

I´m Swede myself. Very strange if he has changed his views.
After the ecofinmeeting yesterday made very negative comments about the FTT. Perhaps he wanted to be polite? Nothing in swedish newspapers about this, only about his negative statement yesterday.