Ministers seek deal on EU financial tax, but scepticism abounds

Brussels (dpa) - Eleven EU countries were set Monday to take another stab at agreeing a controversial tax on financial transactions, amid scepticism that they would be able to finally reach a deal.Austria, Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain have been negotiating the tax for nearly three years. They had at one point planned to start implementing the levy next year.EU Economy Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said the countries are just "a few centimetres" away from an agreement.But German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble declared himself "sceptical" ahead of another round of negotiations on Monday evening."We have already had so many meetings on this, and it always fails somewhere because of one of the member states, because of some technical question," he said.Remaining sticking points include the treatment of derivatives and the geographical application of the tax, diplomats said.Austrian Finance Minister Hans Joerg Schelling, who has been leading the negotiations, told journalists in Brussels that he could not say if an agreement would be achieved on Monday evening, even though several new compromise proposals have been made.He indicated that Italy was among three countries putting up resistance. Schelling warned that a failure to reach a deal on Monday could mean the end of the project."Then I would not have high hopes that we can still achieve a result, after the eighth meeting and the twentieth meeting of the working groups," he said.Schaeuble, however, predicted that work would continue in 2016 in case an agreement is not found.A Brussels diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity also said that he could not imagine the countries involved wanting to "scrap" the progress made to date."Nobody wants to pull the plug," the diplomat said.But the idea of introducing a financial transaction tax in the EU has long been controversial and could not find support among the bloc‘s 28 member states.Supporters of the levy have argued that it will help make the financial sector - which many see as the source of recent economic crises - act more responsibly. But critics have said it could increase the cost of capital and drive investment away from Europe.Britain has been among the staunchest opponents of the tax, commonly known as the FTT. London has feared that the tax will hurt its financial hub.The 11 countries are using a go-it-alone EU approach known as enhanced cooperation, which is being used for the first time in the area of taxation."It is very important that it be a success," Moscovici noted.The new round of negotiations on the tax was scheduled to be held after a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Brussels, at which Greece‘s bailout progress was due to be discussed.