The Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) – taking place today in Luxembourg – will focus on key issues for the European trade union movement, as Ministers will endorse the establishment of National Productivity Boards (NPB), agree on new legislation on corporate tax avoidance and discuss the introduction of a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT).

Chancellor Christian Kern, AUSTRIA Prime Minister Charles Michel, BELGIUM President Francois Hollande, FRANCE Chancellor Angela Merkel, GERMANY Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, GREECE Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, ITALY Prime Minister António Costa, PORTUGAL President Andrej Kiska, SLOVAKIA President of the Government Miro Cerar, SLOVENIA Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, SPAIN  

The ETUC welcomes the announcement made by Finance Ministers on going ahead with a Financial Transaction Tax. ETUC Deputy General Secretary Veronica Nilsson said “The FTT is still on track after all this time, although many of the key details still need to be worked out.”

Brussels, 11/09/2013 The European trade Union Confederation (ETUC) disagrees with the EU Council’s legal services’ claim that the Commission proposal on a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) is not in line with EU law. “This just goes to show how strong the forces against the FTT are. This is yet another attempt to try and discredit the tax and water down the proposal which is being discussed by those countries that are committed to the enhanced cooperation process”, said Veronica Nilsson, Confederal Secretary of the ETUC.

Brussels, 17/06/2013 In view of the vote that is taking place in the European Parliament tomorrow 18 June on the proposal for a Council directive implementing enhanced cooperation in the area of financial transaction tax (FTT), the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is calling on Members of the European Parliament to vote in favour of an “ambitious, simple and efficient FTT, as a first but essential step towards an international FTT”.

Brussels, 17/05/2013 As the European Parliament is due to vote on 22 May on the report on Fight against Tax Fraud, Tax Evasion and Tax Havens by MEP Kleva Kekuš (SL, S&D), European trade unions encourage all MEPs to support it. The draft report proposes concrete steps towards banning all tax havens and forcing transnational companies to pay their fair share of taxes on the huge profits they make. If adopted, it will send strong signals to the EU Summit on 22 May.

Brussels, 05/04/2013 The research on the secretive world of offshore companies and trusts in tax havens around the globe that was undertaken by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and published yesterday (http://www.icij.org/offshore) is a milestone in the fight against tax evasion, says the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC).

Brussels, 18/02/2013 The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) welcomes the Commission’s decision to introduce a tax on financial transactions (TFT). This tax will help discourage financial speculation and identify new sources of revenues for countries that need them.

Brussels, 22/01/2013 The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) welcomes the launch by the ECOFIN Council today of an enhanced cooperation procedure, with a view to introducing financial transaction taxes (FTT) in Europe. An initial group of 11 EU member states have announced that they would take part in this.

Brussels, 21/01/2013 The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has called on Finance Ministers meeting on Tuesday to take the vital next step for 11 or more EU member states to introduce a Financial Transactions Tax.

Killarney, 06/07/2011 President, General Secretary, Dear friends, brothers and sisters trade unionists, I thank you for giving me the opportunity to address Congress today as the newly elected General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation taking over from John Monks, the first woman in that position. I would like here to thank ICTU for supporting my candidature. So you will have to adjust from John’s Manchester sounding English to a definitely French-English tone.

Berlin, 18/05/2010 President, delegates, Your time is precious. My speaking time is limited. So I will limit my intervention to the essentials. The global casino is turning at maximum. Financial markets seem to drive politics. The turmoil on these markets, the high speed speculation against the European currency, the uncontrolled power of rating agencies – all this is constantly threatening our European cohesion, our social fundamentals, our social model, the social market economy.