Corporation, financial transaction tax discussed at EU summit - PM

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said after a Friday meeting of the European Council that the heads of government of the EU member states had taken a step closer towards a levy on big corporations and a financial transaction tax.

The Council summit, which took place in the form of a videoconference, focused on propositions for the next EU budget for the period 2021-2027 and the European Recovery Fund project.

At a press conference afterwards, Morawiecki said Poland integrated several points of view. "And it is important that the crisis is viewed differently by southern Europe and differently by several very thrifty countries, the richest but smaller countries of western and northern Europe, and differently by Central Europe," the PM said.

"Poland strives to integrate, to reconcile several perspectives with each other and we have managed that pretty well," he continued, adding that Poland had proposed "new, interesting solutions," which represented a step forward.

He explained that these new solutions were progressive from the Central European point of view and involved a surcharge on large international corporations for using the common market, as well as a financial transaction tax, on which subject he commented: "It is known that western markets are more highly developed financially, therefore they should pay more to the EU budget."