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European Union finance ministers gave their approval at a meeting today in Brussels, allowing eleven EU member states to pursue the implementation of a financial transactions tax (FTT). At present the 11 states  - including Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Portugal, Belgium, Estonia, Greece, Slovakia and Slovenia - have agreed to move forward with joint introduction of the FTT but additional countries could join the initiative.

Please see the following articles:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/22/us-eu-transactionstax-idUSBRE90K0WX20130122

EU states to get go-ahead for tax on trading

“… Following Tuesday's decision, the European Commission will put forward a new proposal for the tax, which if agreed on by those states involved, would mean the levy could be introduced within months. […] Although critics say such a tax cannot work properly unless applied world-wide or at least Europe-wide, some countries are already banking on the extra income from next year, which one EU official said could be as much as 35 billion euros annually.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/jan/22/eu-approves-financial-transaction-tax-eurozone