EU heeft kritiek op Franse voornemen voor belastingverlaging als compensatie voor hoge brandstofprijzen (en)

EUOBSEVER / BRUSSELS - Proposals by French finance minister Nicolas Sarkozy to give consumers a tax windfall to offset higher oil prices have been roundly criticised by his EU colleagues.

Mr Sarkozy is under pressure from French farmers and truckers to act after oil prices reached new highs today (21 October).

But his plan to act unilaterally drew fire from several other finance ministers at their meeting in Luxembourg today.

Dutch finance minister Gerrit Zalm - who chaired the meeting - said that disagreements with Mr Sarkozy extended last night's meeting of ministers from the 12 countries that share the euro.

"You can imagine how the discussion went probably because in June we agreed that in the field of energy taxation that no country in the Eurogroup would take unilateral action", said Mr Zalm.

In an apparent reference to France, he added, "Nevertheless, we saw some action in one country in the Eurogroup, although of a limited nature".

Economics and monetary affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia also called for co-ordinated action to deal with oil price concerns.

German economy minister Wolfgang Clement ruled out a similar system for Germany saying, "it does not make sense", according to Reuters.

Paris has a history of irking its partners on this issue. During a similar oil price spike in 2000, France infuriated EU colleagues by cutting fuel tax in a bid to assuage protesting hauliers.

This month's meeting of finance ministers has a light agenda, with more weighty topics - such as the EU budget and reform of the euro rules - to be discussed in November.