By DPA,
Brussels : The European Union (EU) summit wants to lower the target for the European economic stimulus package, a draft document presented by the French EU presidency said Friday.
The document said the package should be “about 1.5 percent” of gross domestic product. The European Commission, the legislative body of the EU, had previously asked for “at least 1.5 percent” of GDP.
The draft allows for a reduction in value-added tax for labour-intensive services and tax incentives for green products.
Countries that are willing can make use of these measures, the document says.
France has been a champion of these measures, but had faced opposition from other EU countries, most notably Germany.
An EU-wide reduction in value-added tax, as had been suggested by the commission and which Britain has already introduced, is no longer on the table.