A week ahead of the Franco-German council of ministers, on 19 February, several members of the European Parliament, left-of-centre movements and NGOs urged Paris and Berlin to inject fresh impetus into plans to introduce a financial transaction tax (FTT) in the EU. They vilified France's foot-dragging on the issue.
The leader of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group in the EP, Austrian national Hannes Swoboda, opened fire, on 11 Febuary, by co-signing with fellow S&D member Anni Podimata (Greece) a…