A legal opinion provided by the European Union was scoffed at by the European Commission. The opinion quiestioned the propriety of a planned financial transaction tax and reiterated that the work of eleven other European Union representatives would continue as planned.
The legal services unit of the European Council provided a legal opinion that the European Commissions transaction tax plan "had exceeded member states' jurisdiction for taxation under the norms of international customary law.'
EU finance ministers discussed the matter of the financial transaction transaction tax with the Commission, saying there was a misunderstanding on the opinion. This was confirmed by European Commissioner Algirdas Semeta, who told reporters, "We are confident that the Commission's arguments and arguments of the legal service of the Commission will demonstrate very clearly to our member states that the approach which has been taken in the proposal is the correct one and does not any provisions of the Treaty." Semeta is responsible for taxation in EU treaties.
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