French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel want a tax on financial transactions in place by the end of the year, French Minister for European Affairs Jean Leonetti said January 4. This is another direct attack on Britain, and will continue to force the country to the outskirts of Europe.

The financial transaction tax is on the program for discussion at the next European summit, January 30, Leonetti said. “Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel have decided on this and it will be put in place before the end of 2012,” he announced.

According to Leonetti, Britain and Sweden were the only EU nations against it.

This announcement shows an accelerated time table compared to previous Franco-German plans. Last month, French Finance Minister Francois Baroin said that France and Germany would give their proposals on the tax on January 23 in the hope of introducing it across Europe in 2013.

Britain is dead-set against the tax. Last year, British Prime Minister David Cameron said: “In all the figures that we bandy around about the financial transactions tax, it is worth bearing in mind the fact that around 80 percent of it would be raised from businesses in the United Kingdom. I am sometimes tempted to ask the French whether they would like a cheese tax.”

The push for a transaction tax is a push to marginalize Britain. Watch for Germany to continue to push Britain out of the European Union.