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German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a press conference in Berlin on June 18, 2019. REUTERS / Hannibal Hanschke

A new project has just been sent to nine European capitals by Angela Merkel's government. The German Chancellor is hoping for a quick decision on this issue, which has been in pain for several years.

The German proposal amounts to taxing 0.2% purchases of shares of companies whose market capitalization exceeds one billion euros.

In total, 10 euro-zone countries have implemented close cooperation on the subject for several years, but without concrete results. For the first time since 2011, they are in the process of reaching an agreement, welcomed the German Minister of Finance, who hopes to finalize the legislative process quickly.

In France, this tax brought in nearly one billion euros in 2016

A number of transactions could, however, be exempted from this tax, including IPOs and pension funds. The Berlin proposal also provides for a reduced tax base, which effectively excludes high-frequency transactions, synonymous with speculation in Vienna. Austria is indeed one of the few countries with France to have introduced a tax on financial transactions.

In Germany, this new tax could bring in a billion and a half euros. In France, it reported a little less in 2016: 947 million euros.

► See also: G7 Finance: agreement on the principle of minimum corporate taxation