The European Commission thinks that a financial transaction tax could be passed in nine states of the European Union this year if that number of governments agrees to it by July, Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported.

Nine states are the minimum for a common initiative in a smaller group in case not all 27 members agree on an issue, the newspaper said in a preview of an article for tomorrow’s edition, citing unidentified people close to EU commissioner Algirdas Semeta.

To contact the reporters on this story: Karin Matussek in Berlin at kmatussek@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@Bloomberg.net.