France and Germany will table joint proposals at a European Union summit this week to withhold voting rights from countries that break the bloc's fiscal rules, the leaders of the two countries said on Monday.
"Our position is of course unified on the need to maintain and strengthen the (EUstability and growth) pact, on sanctions, and on the proposal that we are making together of a suspension of voting rights," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said after talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.
The two leaders also said they would jointly call for a bank levy and a tax on financial market transactions at the next meeting of the G20.
"We have agreed that we will write a joint letter to the current president of the G20, Stephen Harper ... making clear our expectations for a successful G20," said Merkel.
The leaders of EU heavyweights Germany and France were keen to patch up fundamental differences on how the bloc should change in response to a crisis that has shaken it to its core.
Three days before a full EU summit, France and Germany tried to hammer out how to run European economic policy and on the extent of coordination between the 27 members and the 16 countries that use the euro single currency.
