11 states back financial transactions tax - Malta stays out

Eleven euro zone countries have agreed to press ahead with a disputed tax on financial transactions aimed at making traders share the cost of fixing a crisis that has rocked the single currency area. The initiative, pushed hard by Germany and France but strongly opposed by Britain, Sweden and other proponents of free markets, gained critical mass at a European Union finance ministers' meeting in Luxembourg, when more than the required nine states agreed to use a treaty provision to launch the tax. Malta has stayed out, along with Luxembourg, Cyprus, Finland, Ireland and the Netherlands. Britain and Sweden, which are not in the eurozone, have also stayed out.  Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said in Parliament on Monday that Malta is against the tax as proposed because it may undermine competitive advantages for the island, but it will not object to other countries going ahead with it. Malta also remains open to discuss new ideas, as long as its financial centre is not harmed. Commonly known as a "Tobin tax" after Nobel-prize winning U.S. economist James Tobin proposed one in 1972 as a way of reducing financial market volatility, it has become a political symbol of a widespread...