AlQa'dah 4, 1434, Sep 10, 2013, SPA -- Legal advisers have cautioned 11 EU governments that their proposal for a tax to be levied on financial transactions is illegal, dpa reported. The legal service that advises EU member states says the plan is "discriminatory," will likely distort competition, violates EU law and "exceeds member states' jurisdiction for taxation," according to a copy of the opinion seen by dpa on Tuesday. The findings were rejected by the European Commission, which drafted the proposal for the financial transaction tax (FTT) as the bloc's executive. "The commission carried out a very thorough legal analysis before presenting this proposal," spokeswoman Emer Traynor said. "We stand firm that the proposed FTT is legally sound and fully in line with the EU treaties and international tax law." There was no unanimous support for the tax in the EU. The 11 countries that decided to proceed on their own are the eurozone's four biggest economies - France, Germany, Italy and Spain - as well as Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Greece, Portugal, Slovakia and Slovenia.
