A "specific bill" on a tax that will affect "this year" companies offering digital services in France will be presented "in the Council of Ministers by the end of February," said the Minister of Economy Bruno The mayor.

A tax from 25 million euros of turnover in France. This project "will be quickly submitted to the vote of the Parliament," said Bruno Le Maire in an interview in the Journal du Dimanche , stating that the tax would affect "all companies with a turnover greater than 750 million euros at the worldwide and 25 million euros in France ". "If these two criteria are not met, they will not be imposed," he said.

"The tax will apply from January 1, 2019, and its rate will be adjusted according to turnover with a maximum of 5% .It should pay about 500 million euros," he said.

A question of "justice and efficiency". The taxation of digital services including Gafa (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon) is "a major issue of the 21st century" and "a matter of justice and efficiency," said the minister.

Towards a European agreement? Although France has decided to act without waiting for a consensus at European level, Bruno Le Maire nevertheless considered that an agreement of this type was still possible "by the end of March", underlining that France supported a European proposal supported by the French Commissioner for Economic Affairs, Pierre Moscovici.

"There are still some hesitant countries, we have made a compromise offer in December with Germany and I am convinced that an agreement is now at hand by the end of March, just a few months before the European elections. May], our citizens would not understand that we give up, "he explained.

A consensus yet to be found. In mid-December, the French government, looking for revenue to finance the social measures announced by President Emmanuel Macron, announced that it would tax from January 1 the digital giants, without waiting for a possible agreement within the European Union. This decision had meant a change of strategy, Bruno Le Maire having defended, without success, the adoption of a tax at the European level on the digital giants.

Ireland, Denmark and Sweden had clearly opposed a tax on 3% of the turnover of the digital giants. Germany, for its part, did not like it either, for fear of American retaliation against its car industry.