In an interview with the Times, Gerhard Schroeder calls for tax harmonisation in the euro-zone countries.

The German chancellor tells the newspaper: "What we need to Europeanise is everything to do with economic and fiscal policy. In this area we need much more, let's call it co-ordination and co-operation to soothe British feelings, than we had before. That hangs together with the success of the euro."

He also declared that there was nobody better to handle Britain's entry to the single currency than prime minister Tony Blair.