Germany and France will call on the European Commission to submit proposals for a European financial market transaction tax, German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said today.
"In the next few days I will together with my French colleague call upon the European Commission to submit proposals on a measure for a financial transaction tax," Mr Schaeuble told the Bundestag lower house of parliament.
If such a tax cannot be agreed on an EU-wide level, consideration will have to be given to whether it could be possible for the euro zone, Mr Schaeuble said.
He said he would like to see reform of financial markets accelerated, adding that he expected to see agreements reached on higher liquidity and capital requirements for banks at the next Group of 20 (G20) summit in Seoul in November.
There was now consensus within the G20 that a restructuring procedure was needed in order to ward off the risk of large financial institutions becoming insolvent.
Reuters