The paper was approved by the Commission yesterday (31 March) and will first be discussed by EU finance ministers in April before the next G20 gathering in Toronto, Canada, in June.
The paper is not intended to state the EU's position on the kinds of fiscal instrument that will be imposed on the financial sector, according to a Commission source, but will ensure that EU finance ministers meeting in Madrid in April can draw up a clear position for the June G20 talks in Toronto.
"Convergence is the name of the game at the G20. Without convergence it will not work," a Commission official told EurActiv.
The EU paper also comes amid fears that the global political will to clamp down on banks and their risk-driven incentive schemes is slowly disappearing (EurActiv 31/03/10).
Bank levy in the lead
So far the greatest steam has gathered behind a global bank levy which the US, the UK, Germany and France have all publicly supported.
Yesterday Germany and France's finance ministers called for an international bank levy and for national bank restructuring rules to be embedded in a European framework.
A Commission official was unable to say whether the EU executive had made specific calculations on the kinds of revenue the different measures could produce, but did elaborate on which instruments were explored in the paper.
A bank levy was among these, but it remains unclear whether this will target short-term or long-term liabilities in the financial sector, which has been a discussion point at international level.
In the US and in the EU, most notably in the UK, plans for a levy and other measures have been heavily criticised by the banking community.
US banks have slated plans for a levy, which would be little more than "taxation without representation," while in the UK, the British Bankers' Association (BBA) castigated new tax moves as "populist, political and penal".
The International Monetary Fund is also expected to endorse a global bank levy in a paper due to be released in mid-April.
The EU paper explores the same options as the IMF paper, said a Commission source. But the EU must develop its own position distinct from that of the IMF, the official insisted.
A taxation on bankers' bonus payments, a tax on financial transactions - the so-called 'FTT' - and carbon taxes on CO2 emissions, especially from international transport like planes and trains, were also part of the Commission's assessment, the official said.
Though the paper has clinched the approval of the entire EU executive, it will not be released to the public until after Easter, according to Commission officials.
Swedish fund still in the running
A Commission official did divulge that a Swedish fund, which has been operational in the Nordic country since late 2008, still curries great favour with the Commission.
The Swedish Stability Fund has been collecting a 0.036% fee from banks and credit institutions, which, if all goes according to plan, should accrue 2.5% of GDP in 15 years.
Academics praise the Swedish fund for targeting a broad range of liabilities but criticise the idea of a flat rate, because it does not send out the right signal that banks should take fewer risks.
