Eleven EU nations get go-ahead on 'Robin Hood' finance tax

BRUSSELS (AFP) - The European Commission on Tuesday backed plans by 11 EU nations to launch a hotly contested "Robin Hood" financial transactions tax (FTT) that is tipped to raise billions for the public purse.

After moves to launch the tax across the European Union were scuttled during months of raucous debate by Britain and others, the EU executive proposed that countries in favour, including France, Germany, Italy and Spain, go ahead on their own.

"A core group of member states are keen to move ahead with a common FTT ... And I applaud this," said the European Union's taxation commission Algirdas Semeta.

"I firmly believe that an EU FTT has great benefits to offer ... I also believe that now is the right moment to move ahead with it. Because in difficult times, fairness matters." Proponents of a transactions tax, which has its roots in the 1970s, believe it will help curb the culture of greed that led to the 2008 global financial crisis and ensure that a bailed out industry pays its fair share.