Chirac restaurant tax cut promise in doubt

Six EU member states made a stand against further expansion of areas with reduced VAT across Europe at a meeting of the bloc's finance ministers on Tuesday (8 November).

Germany, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia and Slovakia oppose the compromise solution produced by the UK presidency and supported by other countries and the European Commission.

If adopted, the proposal would allow member states to apply lower VAT (to a minimum of 5%) in a set of new areas, such as labour intens...