Brussels, 24/09/2009 (Agence Europe) - Provoking astonishment from journalists, the French minister of industry, Christian Estrosi indicated in a backdrop to the Competitiveness Council on 24 September that Paris wanted to include criteria on social dumping in the border carbon tax supported by Germany and France for fighting environmental dumping. This may be done if the international negotiations in Copenhagen this December break down. Translating the firm determination of the French government of fighting unfair competition, which costs jobs in France and Europe, Mr Estrosi insisted that, “a carbon tax at the borders must apply to all those that do not have the same social and environmental rules as us”. He said that the social dimension must be taken into account. According to the French minister, a lot of member states supported the joint Berlin and Paris proposal. Another surprising development, Sweden, a fervent supporter of free trade, would not, according to Mr Estrosi be very far removed from the Franco-German position. The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel and the French president Nicolas Sarkozy appealed for a border adjustment mechanism, a carbon tax, to protect European industry from unfair competition in countries that have fewer scruples on the climate and who refuse to participate in an international agreement or the collective effort to reduce CO2 emissions (EUROPE 9981). The idea of this mechanism is not new given that the carbon tax as an instrument was planned in the energy climate package adopted in December last year. Nevertheless, it is not universally supported at the Commission and does not have unanimous support from member states, not only because of what it deems failure but also because of the problems of incompatibility with WTO rules and the risk of trade reprisals it could provoke. (E.H./trans/rh)