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Common
Press Release: European NGO Caucus
19th March
Monterrey conference ignores the elephant
Huge
opportunity to stabilize markets and generate substantial aid revenue,
new German government study shows currency tax is feasible and desirable
Delegates at the UN Financing
for Development are in danger of ignoring one of the biggest single
ideas on the current political agenda to tackle instability and raise
huge funds for development. The Currency Transactions Tax (CTT),
currently hidden within an obscure part of Consensus text, is one
of the big demands of civil society at Monterrey and beyond and has
already been taken up by a number of governments.
“If governments are serious
about confronting financial instability, and the damage it does to
developing countries, surely they are missing one the obvious
solutions” says Steve Tibbett,
Campaigner with the UK anti-poverty group War on Want. “The
Currency Transactions Tax is the one big idea that has wide political
backing that can help protect vulnerable economies. It is like there is
an elephant in the room and no one is mentioning it.”
A German government study launched today confirms that the tax is both
feasible and effective. The study’s findings make it hard for skeptics
to dismiss the CTT as technically impossible. It is now clearly a
political choice for governments. Following the example of parliaments
in Canada, France and Belgium, world leaders can no longer duck the
issue, say European NGOs at Monterrey.
“After the findings of this study,
Governments should stop going round in circles. Now is the time for them
to work out how to implement the tax rather than waiting for yet another
feasibility study, ” says Rudy de Meyer
of the Belgian NGO coalition.
Any explicit references to the CTT were left out of the text, mainly
because of US opposition and a passive EU position. All that remains is
a call to take into account the delayed study of the UN Secretary
General on ‘Innovative Sources of Finance’. The Consensus
text makes much of the problems with financial markets but is woefully
short of adequate remedies.
NGOs believe that the tax is an important
first step towards preventing destabilising financial crises and should
be taken up without delay. The tax could raise billions for sustainable
development, with an opportunity to earmark at least 50% for realizing
gender equality. An initiative at Monterrey could be taken up by single
and multiple governments and pushed into the agenda of Rio + 10 Summit
on Sustainable Development and other multilateral negotiations.
Notes for Editors:
- The
German Development Ministry will launch its study on the CTT today
at a side event at 1.15
- For
further comment contact Martin Koehler on 04481 809 88160 or Steve
Tibbett on 044 818671 9734
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