Brussels- Britain and Sweden expressed scepticism Thursday that French calls for a tax on international financial transactions would gain global approval. "We have looked at this very carefully. The problem is this: if one or two countries refuse to adopt the common levy ... then it makes it very difficult to implement," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said at the start of an European Union summit in Brussels.
Asked about the French initiative, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said the matter had already been discussed for decades.
"The focus should be on (bankers') bonuses, financial supervision and transparency," Reinfeldt said. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner had launched the idea of a so-called "Tobin Tax" aimed at raising billions of euros for the world's poorer countries in articles appearing Thursday in French and British newspapers.
The tax, named after the economist James Tobin, would be applied on a voluntary basis at a non-distorting rate of 0.005 per cent, Kouchner wrote in the Financial Times.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel described it as "a sensible" idea, but acknowledged that it might not gain the endorsement of the EU's 27 member states.
Strongly backed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the Tobin Tax discussion was taking place in Brussels as EU leaders gathered to forge a common European position ahead of this month's Group of 20 summit in Pittsburgh.
