Financial transaction tax will 'raise billions', says EU Commission Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the commission, rebuffed complaints made by other member states - most vocally Britain - and said he was "delighted" that the group was pushing ahead with the plan. Mr Barroso said the legal requirements and conditions had been met and he did not believe the tax would undermine the single market if it were imposed across limited parts of the European Union. "I am delighted to see that 10 member states have indicated their willingness to participate in a common financial transaction tax," he said. Mr Barroso added: "This is about fairness - we need to ensure the costs of the crisis are shared by the financial sector instead of shouldered by ordinary citizens." Germany, France, Italy and Spain are leaders of the group that have told Brussels they are willing to sign up to the tax, and are backed by Austria, Belgium, Greece, Portugal, Slovakia and Slovenia. Algirdas Semeta, the EU's taxation commissioner, said: "A core group of member states are keen to move ahead with a common FTT and I applaud this." The Commission has estimated that the tax, which would impose a small levy on every financial transaction, could raise as much as €57bn (£46bn) a year, if it were applied across the EU. On Tuesday, Bernard Cazeneuve, France's European affairs minister, said €10bn of revenue could be raised from the starter group alone. "It's hard to say what the result will be, but it can be estimated that it will be several billion euros, probably above €10bn," he said. Britain has refused to consider the FTT , arguing it would damage the City of London .