Amendments tabled by the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group in the European Parliament would significantly harden the institution's position on taxing the financial sector, directly challenging the European Commission's withdrawal of the Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) proposal. The three amendments, filed on 1 July 2026 to the own-initiative report by Matthias Ecke (S&D, Germany), shift the tone from passive acknowledgment to active opposition and introduce new calls for windfall taxes and anti-avoidance measures.
The amendments replace the neutral phrase "takes note of" with "regrets" regarding the Commission's decision to withdraw the FTT proposal, and explicitly call on the Commission to bring forward a new proposal. This transforms the report from a neutral observation into a political demand. A new paragraph (34a) endorses coordinated temporary windfall taxes on the financial sector, citing historically high profitability of EU banks as justification. Another new paragraph (35a) warns against tax regimes that attract low-substance financial activities and profit shifting, expressing regret that such practices persist and undermine Member State tax bases.
The amendments are proposed by a large cross-section of S&D MEPs, including Matthias Ecke, Bernd Lange, Birgit Sippel, and over 100 others, as well as MEPs from The Left and Greens/EFA groups listed as co-signatories. The amendments are still to be examined and voted in committee and plenary; they do not yet represent the Parliament's official position. If adopted, the report would increase pressure on the Commission to reintroduce an FTT proposal, a long-standing but stalled EU initiative. The amendments also signal a push for more aggressive taxation of the financial sector, potentially affecting bank profitability and investment flows. The report is scheduled for a plenary vote later in the year, after which it would become Parliament's input to the Commission on future legislative proposals.