Ten EU countries agree on aspects of a financial transaction tax

[December 08, 2015]  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Ten euro zone countries agreed on Tuesday on some aspects of a harmonized tax on financial transactions and gave themselves until the middle of next year to reach a deal on remaining issues, including the rates, the group said in a statement.

Talks on a financial transaction tax (FTT), which is to recover some of the public money used to support banks, curb speculative trading and unify similar levies already charged in several EU countries, have been dragging on since 2011.

In September this year, 11 ministers from Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Greece, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain said they had made progress and that they expected a political deal in December.

On Tuesday, however, Estonia did not join the statement drafted by the others.

(Reporting By Jan Strupczewski; editing by Philip Blenkinsop)

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