According to supporters of the fee, it would be paid by the big funds and investment banks and would bring between 30 and 60 billion Euros per year to the EU or the EU member states’ budget. In concrete terms, it would actually be a fee on share purchasing and on transactions involving bonds and financial derivatives. The novelty brought by the recent Merkel-Sarkozy summit is Berlin’s agreement to the fee, but the German official also stressed that all countries in the Euro zone must take common action to that end. Provided all 27 EU member countries agree, the fee, as seen by the European Commission, might be enforced starting 2014, but France does not rule out the possibility of applying the fee on financial transactions all by itself, starting this very year. Imposing the fee on a limited number of countries would lack effectiveness and it would even have negative effects, believes Romanian economic analyst Ionut Dumitru.

“It’s hard to believe and almost impossible to reach a compromise at European level, given Great Britain’s strong opposition. And even if Great Britain agrees, it’s hard to imagine that Europe would place its financial system in a disadvantaged position. Such requirements have not been imposed in the US or in Asia, so by doing this, Europe would actually harm itself.”

One thing that Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy agreed upon was that the European agreement regarding strengthening budget discipline in the EU, to which 26 of 27 members have already committed, will be signed on March 1st.