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Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti on Wednesday threw his support behind a new tax on financial transactions, backing a push by Germany and France, but said he would prefer to have it apply across the whole European Union.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have suggested it might suffice to enact such a tax among the 17-nation euro countries. Monti said he would rather have it applied across the full 27-nation EU — which would be more difficult because of U.K. opposition — but did not rule out a eurozone-only deal.
“We are open to supporting this initiative at the EU level,” Monti said at a news conference with Merkel during his first visit to Berlin since taking over from Silvio Berlusconi in November.
