Deep disagreements among 11 European Union states that have pledged to introduce a tax on financial transactions mean the proposal faces delays and could be significantly scaled back, people involved in the discussions said Thursday.

Eleven countries are pushing ahead with a European Commission proposal for a sweeping levy on share, bond and derivative trades, after discussions for an EU-wide financial transaction tax broke down last October amid opposition from a number of countries among the EU's 27 members, including the UK, Denmark and Sweden.