French Finance Minister Mr Laurent Fabius said last night that, within the next few days, he would unveil the largest tax cut plan the country had seen in half a century.

"In a few days I will present a plan for tax reform and tax cuts, which I have designed to be the largest in the past 50 years," Fabius said, in an article in a recent issue of Le Monde. He gave no indication as to what kind of cuts he was planning, although the news came as Mr Fabius prepared to put next year's draft budget to the cabinet for approval on September 20th.

Mr Fabius said that any tax reform would have to go hand in hand with "lasting control of public and defence spending, and ambitious reform of the whole state apparatus", taking decentralisation further and focusing the state on its "essential functions".