BLBG:Merkel, Sarkozy Plan Euro-Area Growth Fund, Handelsblatt Says
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy will present a plan for a growth and competitiveness fund, the Handelsblatt newspaper said, citing an unpublished six-point paper.
The money for the euro-area facility would come from existing European Union funds for less developed regions that weren’t fully exhausted last year, the German newspaper reported today. Merkel and Sarkozy will present the paper at the Jan. 30 EU summit, according to Handelsblatt.
The two leaders also seek to accelerate tax harmonization in the EU, the newspaper said, citing energy taxes, a financial transaction tax and the assessment base for corporate taxes. Germany and France will present a proposal by the end of February to streamline their corporate tax systems, it said.
Merkel and Sarkozy also said that new bank liquidity rules shouldn’t go into effect before 2014 and new debt limits shouldn’t become effective before 2018, the newspaper reported.
To contact the reporter on this story: Rainer Buergin in Berlin at rbuergin1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net
