European Union finance ministers cleared the way for a financial-transaction tax to move forward in at least nine member states after Austria said deadlock among all 27 could threaten the euro area’s rescue fund. The European Commission’s tax proposal “does not, as required, have unanimous support,” Danish Economy Minister Margrethe Vestager, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency, said during a meeting in Luxembourg. Now that an impasse has been acknowledged, a smaller group of as few as nine nations can propose to coordinate a tax among themselves. Germany and Austria today said a transaction tax needs to ... (full story)