France’s Macron pushes global tax deal on visit to Ireland

By MIKE FULLER
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron has held talks with top Irish officials in Dublin, focusing on a major overhaul of taxes on the world’s biggest multinational companies. During Thursday’s one-day state visit — his first to Ireland — Macron met with President Michael Higgins and Taoiseach Michael Martin. Ireland is not among the approximately 130 countries to have backed an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) deal which would see minimum corporation tax set at 15% worldwide. Ireland’s rate is currently 12.5%. Macron said while he believed a common framework “made sense” for a post-COVID-19 world, it was not for France to “put pressure” on Dublin to sign up to the agreement.