Denmark backs a global financial transaction tax but fears that limiting one to Europe could hamper economic and job growth, Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt said today in comments which mirror the stand already expressed by Malta.

Denmark, which currently holds the European Union presidency, is not a member of the eurozone.

"The government's position is that it would be reasonable to have a global tax on financial transactions," Thorning-Schmidt told reporters.

"We have no ideological opposition in principle to start (introducing a tax) in Europe, but we have to listen to those who say that such a tax risks leading to financial transactions being moved elsewhere" where the tax doesn't exist, she warned.

Sweden introduced taxes on financial and currency transactions in the 1980s but quickly abolished them after trading volumes plunged.

"When we consider a tax on financial transactions we have to make sure it is robust enough. And we're not convinced that the project currently on the table is just that," Thorning-Schmidt said.

The Danish government is open to discussion on the subject however and "if some countries want to speed up the process (of discussion) we are ready to do so," she said.

Yesterday, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Berlin wanted to get an EU-wide financial transaction tax approved in the first quarter of this year.

The EU Commission has put forward a proposal aimed at pulling in up to €55 billion ($70.4 billion) annually, and which would tax stock and bond transactions at 0.1 percent.

Other transactions, including those involving financial derivatives, would be subject to a tax rate of 0.01 percent.

To pass an EU-wide tax, all 27 member states must vote in favour.

Britain is opposed however amid fears that a tax would undermine its global financial hub in London, prompting France and Germany to say that the 17-member eurozone should go it alone.

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