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EU Financial Transactions Tax Survey

A survey of MEPs and Brussels Influencers conducted by ComRes

Date Published: 30 Jan 2012

Categories: Economy | Europe | Financial Services | Policy Makers

Description

The majority of MEPs and Brussels Influencers are in favour of introducing an EU-wide financial transaction tax

62% of Members of the European Parliament and 59% of Brussels Influencers believe that ‘a financial transaction tax is the right way to ensure that the banking sector shares its responsibility for the economic crisis’.  EU representatives of business are the only stakeholder group to disagree with this statement.

The surveys, among a representative sample of 105 MEPs drawn from all regions and party groups and 258 Brussels opinion elites drawn from major stakeholder goups and EU institutions, were conducted using the ComRes Europoll™ MEPs Panel and Brussels Influencers Panel.

58% of MEPs and 65% of Brussels Influencers would ‘support the introduction of a Europe-wide financial transaction tax’. This support is strongest among MEPs from the PASD Group, EU-level NGOs and European Commission.

MEPs from the ALDE Group, staff from EU agencies and representatives of business are the only three groups of stakeholders who agree that a financial transaction tax will have negative impact on European banks’ competitiveness worldwide.

While a majority of MEPs who are members or substitutes of the powerful Economic Affairs committee agree that such a tax ‘will make Europe’s banking sector less competitive worldwide’ (59%), they would nevertheless support its introduction (63%).
 
Methodology: ComRes surveyed 101 MEPs via its Europoll™ Panel between 26 October 2011 and 11 January 2012 by self-completion postal questionnaire and online. Data were weighted to be representative of the European Parliament by party group and region. ComRes also surveyed 258 Brussels opinion elites via its Brussels Influencers Panel between 5 December 2011 and 9 January 2012 by online methodology. ‘Influencers’ include employees from the European Parliament, the European Commission, European Agencies, Permanent Representations of Member States, representatives of business and of selected European trade and professional associations, journalists, NGOs, think tanks, experts and academics. Data was weighted to accurately reflect the make-up of the Brussels Influencers arena.

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