The corporate tax treaty has become a bone of contention for Ireland. As per reports from the EU summit, the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, has asked Irish Prime Minister Taoiseach Enda Kenny to raise the corporate tax slab in order to get 1% concession on the interest rate of bailout.

As the French President Nicolas Sarkozy is set to face a growing scandal over the charges of accepting kickbacks on the naval deals with Pakistan in 1990s, his popularity ratings has started to go up.

With the hope to underscore France's environmental credentials ahead of the Copenhagen conference on climate change, President Nicolas Sarkozy plans to make France the biggest economy to impose carbon tax from January 1. The plan, aimed at lowering the energy consumption, was annulled by the Constitutional Court just 48 hours before it was due to come into force on Wednesday.

Paris - French President Nicolas Sarkozy Monday sharply criticized Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech at a UN racism conference as an "intolerable appeal for racist hatred."

Cairo - French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh Monday for talks with his Egyptian counterpart Hosny Mubarak, as part of a two-day tour to the region in the face of continuing violence in the Gaza Strip.

Paris- French President Nicolas Sarkozy accused Israel of using disproportionate violence in its attacks on the Gaza Strip Saturday.

The bombardment must stop immediately, Sarkozy, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said in Paris.