Monday

2nd Oct 2023

Commission: 'Robin Hood' tax would save EU countries billions

  • The parliament will play a stronger role in the budget negotiations (Photo: European Parliament)

Member states will pay 50 percent less into the general EU budget by 2020 if they agree to implement a financial transactions tax (FTT), the EU commission said Thursday (22 March).

In a last-ditch attempt to undermine government opposition to both this specific 'Robin Hood' levy and the general idea of Brussels raising taxes, EU budget commissioner Janusz Lewandowski put some concrete savings figures on the table.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

By the commission's estimate, Germany would pay €10.7 billion less to the EU budget by 2020, Poland €1.8 billion, Italy €6.4 billion and Latvia €81 million. The UK, the Netherlands and Sweden - the strongest opponents of the FTT - would save €7.6bn, €2.6bn and €1.6bn respectively.

By 2020, total savings would amount to €81 billion.

Of this money - raised through a 0.1 percent tax on stock and bond trades and 0.01 percent on derivatives - one third would go to national budgets and two thirds (€54 billion) to the EU budget.

The transaction tax was core to the commission proposal for the next multi-annual budget (2014-2020) unveiled in June last year. Member states reacted negatively both to the five percent increase in the total budget and to the transaction tax

But Brussels is banking on Thursday's proposal winning over the unconvinced.

EU commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said that when member states see in "concrete terms" the savings that can be made "some who have been sceptical will probably change their position."

Lewandowski, for his part, said there has been a "change" in member states' thinking on Brussels raising taxes. Previous such suggestions had survived for "about one week" but the current proposal has been on the table since June 2011.

"We are coming with some striking figures to assist the debate," he added.

But the sums did not please all. The UK was quick to release a statement saying it "completely refute(s) the suggestion" that it would benefit from an EU transactions tax.

With the budget to be agreed by the end of the year, the overall debate is beginning to heat up.

A group of nine member states has said it wants to press ahead with the FTT on its own (which would remove it from the commission's grasp) while Germany and the UK and others have said the budget should not increase beyond inflation.

But the budget negotiations contain an extra twist. The European Parliament will play a stronger role.

MEPs are keen on the financial transaction tax, keen on supporting growth policies and keen on spending more. Last year, the parliament approved a report calling for a 5 percent increase in the next multi-annual fund.

Parliament chief Martin Schulz indicated his institution will play tough on the negotiation. The EU assembly "will not accept" a smaller budget, he said on Thursday.

He reminded listeners at a budget conference that parliament will "defend its co-decision rights." Any attempt by finance ministers to undermine this right "won't work with us," he said.

The article was amended on Friday, 23 March, to say that the European Parliament will play a bigger role in the budget negotiations. The previous version wrongly implied that the parliament has not in the past used a veto on the EU budget.

Analysis

Is the ECB sabotaging Europe's Green Deal?

The European Central Bank (ECB) recently raised interest rates to the highest point in the currency's 21-year existence — but the effects of its policies on renewables are badly understood.

IEA says: Go green now, save €11 trillion later

The International Energy Agency finds that the clean energy investment needed to stay below 1.5 degrees Celsius warming saves $12 trillion [€11.3 trillion] in fuel expenditure — and creates double the amount of jobs lost in fossil fuel-related industries.

Analysis

Is the ECB sabotaging Europe's Green Deal?

The European Central Bank (ECB) recently raised interest rates to the highest point in the currency's 21-year existence — but the effects of its policies on renewables are badly understood.

Opinion

How do you make embarrassing EU documents 'disappear'?

The EU Commission's new magic formula for avoiding scrutiny is simple. You declare the documents in question to be "short-lived correspondence for a preliminary exchange of views" and thus exempt them from being logged in the official inventory.

Latest News

  1. EU ministers go to Kyiv to downplay fears on US, Slovak aid
  2. Hoekstra faces tough questioning to be EU Green chief
  3. Frontex shared personal data of NGO staff with Europol six times
  4. Why EU Commission dumped Google's favourite consultant
  5. Slovak's 'illiberal' Fico victory boosts Orbán, but faces checks
  6. European Political Community and key media vote This WEEK
  7. Is the ECB sabotaging Europe's Green Deal?
  8. The realists vs idealists Brussels battle on Ukraine's EU accession

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  2. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators, industry & healthcare experts at the 24th IMDRF session, September 25-26, Berlin. Register by 20 Sept to join in person or online.
  3. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  4. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  5. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators & industry experts at the 24th IMDRF session- Berlin September 25-26. Register early for discounted hotel rates
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations
  2. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  3. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  4. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us