As a result 11 eurozone countries applied to go it alone under "enhanced co-operation" rules.

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However during the final session, MEPs broadly rejected this, preferring enhanced co-operation, along the lines of the Schengen agreement on border controls.

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"China and Israel have both much to gain from enhanced co-operation, and that's our goal, " Mr Netanyahu's spokesman Mark Regev told AFP news agency.

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The EU's enhanced co-operation procedure allows a minimum of nine EU countries to forge ahead with closer co-operation, even if the others in the 27-nation bloc do not join in.

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Alexandria Carr, a former UK Treasury lawyer now at law firm Mayer Brown, said those 11 countries moving ahead under so-called "enhanced co-operation" are legally bound to respect the rights of member states that do not participate.

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Agreement over the tax had already been reached before the meeting, and the nod from a majority of the Ecofin group of EU finance ministers - a requirement of the enhanced co-operation procedure - was merely a procedural matter, according to the Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan.

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However, the opportunities presented for enhanced global co-operation are extraordinary if all countries join hands to preserve and protect the world's precious store of integers.

ECONOMIST: Poisson: More is more | The