The chairman of the European Parliament’s special committee on tax rulings has said he “argued against” then French president Nicolas Sarkozy in 2011 when he said Ireland needed to raise its corporate tax rate.

Mr Sarkozy said Ireland could not benefit from the EU’s financial aid while maintaining its low rate.

“I deeply respect our Irish friends’ independence and we have done everything to help them,” he said. “But they cannot continue to say ‘come and help us’ while keeping a tax on company profits that is half [that of other countries]. We cannot speak about economic integration without the convergence of fiscal systems.”

‘Ireland’s choice’

Speaking after an address to the Institute of International and European Affairs yesterday, Alain Lamassoure, who is a member of Mr Sarkozy’s Republicans party, said he clashed with the former French president on the issue of Ireland’s tax rate.

“I remember that former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was very critical against Ireland and particularly against this tax rate,” he said. “When we discussed the Irish programme in 2011, the French wanted an increase in the corporate tax rate. I argued against this. I argued that it is Ireland’s choice.”

Mr Lamassoure also said he was in favour of country-by-country reporting.

“We go along with the OECD in terms of country-by-country reporting. All the banks have to release publicly their results country by country. That is agreed. It works well,” he said.