France and Germany are to adopt a common corporate tax system by 2013 in an effort to signal greater co-ordination of economic policy after confidence in the euro was buffeted by the sovereign debt crisis.
Following a meeting in Paris that coincided with the publication of second-quarter growth figures showing a slowdown in the German economy, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, pledged to back the common currency.In the most concrete of their proposals, the French and German finance ministries will draw up plans early next year to introduce a common corporate tax base and rate for the two nations to take effect from 2013.
Ms Merkel and Mr Sarkozy were meeting as gloom over the future of the eurozone was intensified by a slowdown in Germany’s economy. German gross domestic product rose by only 0.1 per cent in the three months to June compared with the previous quarter, the country’s statistical office reported. Data for the first quarter were revised down to show a rise of 1.3 per cent compared with the 1.5 per cent originally reported.