PARIS, Jan 6 (KUNA) -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy is to hold talks here late on Friday with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti to discuss mainly European issues in preparation for the European summit meeting in brussels on January 30.
The two leaders are expected to focus on the debt problems facing a number of EU nations, particularly Greece, Italy and potentially Spain, and on the crisis facing the Euro as a result.
France is also pushing for the implementation of a Europe-wide financial transaction tax, which it hopes will be agreed at the end-of-month meeting, even though there is resistance from several EU countries to this proposal. Germany, nonetheless, the other major European country, has expressed support for Sarkozy's idea on the tax.
Sarkozy and Monti will also be reviewing efforts agreed by all EU nations, except for the UK, to establish greater budget discipline and tighter fiscal policies in Europe.
Debt and deficit reduction are deemed vital to the health of the Euro and market confidence in European economies which have been battered by the debt issue and punished by international lenders who have hiked bond interest rates in many nations.
International and bilateral questions will also be discussed by the French and Italian leaders Friday and the push by France and other nations for an embargo on Iranian oil imports to the EU will certainly be broached.
Italy is one of the biggest importers of Iranian oil, getting around 14 percent of its supplies from that country and would be one of the most affected by the embargo.
Overall, the EU imports are just over five percent of its total oil supplies from Iran, which is being targeted because of its controversial nuclear program and its refusal to halt uranium enrichment and allow transparent inspections of its facilities. (end) jk.ma KUNA 060934 Jan 12NNNN¬