Luxembourg FM calls for European tax

(PARIS) - Luxembourg's finance minister called for a new tax to fund the European Union's budget, saying in Monday's Le Figaro newspaper he favoured a levy on financial transactions or a carbon tax.

"Our citizens have a direct link with their national budget but this is not at all the case when it comes to the European Union budget," the minister, Luc Frieden, wrote in a commentary for the French daily.

"It would therefore make sense to rethink the financing of the European budget through a European tax imposed on certain services or products that would go directly into the European budget," he said.

"A European environmental tax, such as a carbon tax, or a tax on certain financial transactions would be particularly suitable," he added.

The Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers met in Brussels on Monday, with its chairman calling for the group to be given greater powers for surveillance of national economies in the wake of the economic crisis.