PES General Secretary Achim Post stated that: “I am delighted to see that a great number of countries are ready to change the financial status quo. The implementation of the FTT provides the long-overdue response to tackle financial speculation and, at the same time, it restores a degree of fairness in the contribution of the financial sector to the real economy”.
As the PES has long advocated this historic agreement proves that the FTT is the right tool to make the financial sector pay its share of the current financial crisis. After strong political pressure by the PES and three years of constant political campaigning, it is now clear: the financial sector must start serving the real economy.
The eleven countries agreed to tax stock and bond trades at the rate of 0.1% and derivatives trades at 0.01%.
Mr. Post also underlined that; “this is a major step but not the last one. We need to push for more ambitious rates for the FTT. We have to continue our fight to have the widest European implementation possible. And we must seize this opportunity for Europe and set an international example against the speculative forces of the financial sector”.
So far Austria, Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain have stepped up in the fight to tame the financial market speculation.
