Prime Minister courts international investors 02/07/2007 00:00

LA BAULE, France,  July 2, 2007 (AFP) - French Prime Minister Francois Fillon wooed foreign investors on Friday telling them France planned to make itself one of the most attractive countries in Europe through tax changes.

"France is ready for action," Fillon told a global investment conference in English, saying Paris would carry out an in-depth review of its taxes and social security in which "no big tax will be forgotten."

"We will lift all the handicaps that you encounter ... France is back, decided to relaunch its economy, its competitiveness, its attractiveness," he said.

"We have a very ambitious programme of reforms which starts this summer with the reform of overtime, which will continue in the autumn with measures to make companies more competitive and a global review of taxation," Fillon told the investors.

"We want France to be one of the most attractive countries in Europe," he said.

He said the review would include social security, income tax, value added and other taxes.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said shortly after taking office that he would give priority to boosting French growth through a series of reforms, including tax changes.

Copyright AFP

Subject: French news