France eases off the pressure for corporate tax harmonization

"There is no correlation between these factors," said French EU Affairs Minister Claudie Haignere during her visit to Warsaw on Monday. She added that the recent threats of French Economy and Finance Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, "Were a specific way of looking at the problem". At the same time Haignere assured that the priority of the French government in the new EU budget is to designate structural funds for new members to help lower the development gap. However, Poland might have to agree to a compromise and set a minimum corporate tax rate possibly 12.5% as used by Ireland. "Such a compromise is unlikely. We could aim for 16%," said former French Economy and Finance Minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn. (Rzeczpospolita, pp. A1, B1) M.M.