German Chancellor Angela Merkel
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said a European Union digital tax would be proposed at a meeting of EU finance ministers in December at the latest.
"We are talking about it with France. But note: We are not talking about whether to tax digital companies, we are talking about how to do that," Merkel told German online portal t-online.de in an interview published late on Tuesday.
"There will be a proposal by December," she said.
France has long been the main supporter of the tax but has grown increasingly frustrated with German hesitation over the details after Berlin agreed in principle to the idea in June.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Tuesday for an integrated European Union military, recalling the lessons of the First World War and the divisions that led to the conflict."We should work on a vision of one day establishing a real European army," Merkel told the European Parliament during a keynote speech in which she consciously echoed a phrase used by French President Emmanuel Macron last week.Macron's call, which reflects a broad trend of EU thinking but is not universally accepted, irritated U.S. President Donald Trump.President Macron's office says 'no comment' after Trump Twitter attackTrump criticizes Macron, says ‘make France great again’
Germany's Merkel calls for a European Union military
After months of tough lobbying, the French government has said that only Denmark, Sweden and Ireland remain opposed.
Germany said this week it favoured the proposed EU plan to tax big internet firms such as Google and Facebook on their turnover, which EU officials say unfairly pay less tax than other companies.
Merkel's comments came as Germany's cabinet prepares to present an artificial intelligence (AI) strategy to help Europe's biggest economy adjust to the digital era.
Germany has urged maximum restraint in Gaza on Tuesday, but failed to condemn Israel’s recent military airstrikes that martyred at least six Palestinians.“Any further escalation must be avoided. We are calling for maximum restraint and an end to the violence,” German Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that Israel “has the right to defend its security”.At least six Palestinians were martyred in renewed Israeli attacks in Gaza since Monday. The Israeli army said the attacks came in response to rocket fire from the Palestinian territory.Video: Fourth Palestinian dies amid renewed attacks on GazaGerman Foreign Ministry voiced support for efforts by the UN, Egypt and other countries to achieve de-escalation in the region.On Sunday, seven Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were killed in an undercover Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip.Since March, more than 200 Palestinians have been martyred and thousands more injured by Israeli army fire during protests demanding the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their ancestral home in what is now Israel.
Germany fails to condemn Israel’s aggression in Gaza
According to a draft paper seen by Reuters, the German government has set aside around 3 billion euros ($3.39 billion) for AI research and development.
"Our future prosperity depends very much on this, as does the question whether and how we can defend our European values regarding the dignity of individuals and protection of privacy in a digital age," Merkel told t-online.de.
Germany has been at the forefront of industrial innovation for decades but policymakers have been late to realise that its export model, based on traditional manufacturing, is vulnerable and it is struggling to catch up.
Solid growth - the economy is in its ninth year of expansion - has left many businesses too busy meeting orders to have time to plan for a digital future.
Germany cannot accept China’s “re-education” camps for Uighur Muslims, said the country’s Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Tuesday. Many refer to China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region -- home to many ethnic minority groups, including Turkic Uighur people -- as East Turkestan.They believe that the Uighur are among a number of Turkic tribes that inhabit the region, and consider it to be part of Central Asia, not China.China says world should ignore 'gossip' about XinjiangEstablished under the pretext of “political reeducation” for China’s Muslim population, Beijing has amped up its construction of detention camps in the past three months, expanding them by an additional 700,000 square meters, according to satellite imagery.China’s Muslim incarceration camps have attracted heavy criticism from the international community as Beijing continually denied their existence and repeatedly rejected allegations of abuses against the country’s Uighur minority for years, opting to call them “vocational camps” instead.Xinjiang region is home to around 10 million Uighurs. The Turkic Muslim group which makes up around 45 percent of the population of Xinjiang, has long accused China’s authorities for cultural, religious and economic discrimination.German FM to raise Uighur concerns on China visitWest calls on China to close Uighur detention camps
Germany cannot accept China’s camps for Uighur Muslims