Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi will be reiterating Malta’s opposition to an EU-wide financial transaction tax when the issue is raised at an emergency summit of EU leaders in Brussels tonight.

It is time to emphasise the measures directly linked to encouraging jobs

In a letter sent to the leaders, EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy suggested a “no-taboo” discussion on the major issues facing the EU and emphasised the need for a continued discussion about the FTT.

“The time has come to put more emphasis on the measures more directly linked to encouraging growth and jobs in the continuation of our January summit and to discuss in the most constructive manner innovative, or even controversial, ideas,” he said.

The occasion will serve as a final sounding board before a formal summit at the end of June, in which the EU is expected to roll out a full-blown Growth Pact.

Today’s meeting was called by Mr Van Rompuy in view of the latest eurozone developments and recent calls for a boost in the EU’s growth agenda.

Both the Commission and the European Parliament view the introduction of a FTT among the 27 member states as part of the long-term solution of the debt crisis.

However, many member states that depend on financial services, including Malta, oppose the idea, arguing that such a tax would only drive financial services’ businesses outside the EU.

Apart from the present eurozone concerns and the situation in Greece and Spain, EU leaders are also expected to raise the prospect of introducing common eurozone bonds as a way of bringing down extortionate borrowing costs for some of the single currency’s weakest economies.

Germany has previously resisted appeals to pool its coveted triple A credit rating with countries that have lower ratings, arguing it would have to pay more to borrow money from financial markets as a result.

However, French President François Hollande, whose anti-austerity election campaign is largely credited with turning Europe’s attention towards growth and investment, is understood to have pressed the issue at last weekend’s summit of G8 leaders and will confront German Chancellor Angela Merkel on it during the summit.

The EU’s new Growth Pact, likely to be signed in June, is expected to include a €10 billion capital boost for the European Investment Bank; the launch of a series of project bonds to fund key investment infrastructure backed by the EU budget; and the possibility of reallocating an estimated €82 billion in unspent structural funds to needy countries.