The comments of my colleague, the German Minister for Finance, should be set in the context of the domestic politics in Germany. A coalition of parties, that included his, defeated my sister party, the SPD, on a claim that Germany could be reunified without increasing taxes. That proved a lie for the Conservative Party in Britain and, consequently, corporate and general taxation rates in Germany are high. They are now trying to address that problem and, in doing so, referring to other European Union countries.
I accept the validity of the claim of prospective investors already located here who are contemplating expansion and the indigenous sector, both the 10 per cent and the non-10 per cent, that they need some sense of certainty in so far as any Government can provide it. It is my intention to provide that and I would like to be in a position to do it within two months or something of that order, but within a short timeframe, not an openended one.