France and Britain to propose reduced green tax

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - France and Britain will make a proposal for reduced rates of value-added tax (VAT) on energy-efficient goods at a meeting of European Union finance ministers next month, the European Commission said on Friday.

The announcement came a day after French President Nicolas Sarkozy promised a green revolution, unveiling a mix of tax measures and investment pledges that he said would put France in the vanguard of the war against global warming.

"Discussions haven't started yet on a political level. It's going to start during this next Ecofin (finance ministers meeting) on the 13th of November," a spokeswoman for the EU's executive Commission told a regular briefing.

"The French minister of finance and the minister of finance of the UK I think together are going to make a proposal ... on reduced VAT rates for most energy-efficient goods," she said.

Any measures would have to respect the bloc's internal market rules, the spokeswoman said.