A European financial transaction tax will be in place by the end of year, French minister for European affairs Jean Leonetti said today, apparently moving up the programme.

Leonetti said on LCI television today: "This is on the programme for the next European summit (on January 30). (French President) Nicolas Sarkozy and (German Chancellor) Angela Merkel have decided on this and it will be put in place before the end of 2012.

Malta has so far opposed the introduction of the tax, despite pressures by, among others, Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier, who visited Malta last month.

Addressing his EU counterparts on December 7, Foreign Affairs Minister Tonio Borg said: “Let me make it clear for another time on the Commission’s persistent demands to introduce the financial transaction tax. We continue to oppose this measure if this is not introduced on a global level.”

Leonetti said Germany and France were already in agreement on the tax and that Italy was not opposed to it. He said that of the 27 members of the European Union, only Britain and Sweden were opposed to the idea.

Last month, French Finance Minister Francois Baroin said France and Germany were to present their financial transactions tax proposal on January 23 with the hope it will be implemented across Europe in 2013.

In September, the EU's executive Commission proposed introducing a tax in 2014 at 0.1 percent on share dealings and 0.01 percent on derivatives and other financial products that would raise 55 billion euros ($72 billion) per year, to be shared between the EU's central structures and its 27 member states.