The EU Council held a policy debate on the Danish Presidency's paper which suggests that the way forward for a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) is to introduce it on a step-by-step basis, and to exam alternative means of regulating or taxing the financial sector.

The debate took place at the ECOFIN meeting on 22 June in Luxembourg. The compromise suggested by the Danish presidency comes in light of the fact that support for an FTT, as proposed by the Commission, was not unanimous among the 27 Member States. The Danish presidency also noted support by a number of delegations in favour of enhanced cooperation, which would allow a limited number of member states to proceed with an FTT amongst themselves while making use of the EU institutions.