Merkel, Sarkozy kick off year of eurozone wrangling

German Chancellor Angela Merkel hosts French President Nicolas Sarkozy Monday, kicking off a week of high-level talks to lay the groundwork for a crunch EU summit on taming the eurozone crisis.
The duo at the heart of European efforts to stem the debt-driven turmoil threatening the single currency will gather in Berlin for their first monthly tete-a-tete in what is certain to be a rocky year.
For while Merkel and Sarkozy had made a show of unity in recent weeks, strategic differences began to emerge over plans to introduce a financial transaction tax in the European Union.
Sarkozy, who is facing an uphill battle for re-election this year, said France would charge ahead and roll out the tax on its own if necessary to set an example for Europe.
"We won't wait for others to agree to put it in place, we'll do it because we believe in it," he said Friday after talks in Paris with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, who urged France not to go it alone.
Berlin also resisted Sarkozy's call, saying it was still trying to build the broadest possible consensus for the tax, seen as a revenue generator and a penalty on speculation, in the face of fervent opposition from Britain.
"We would like to see a global financial transaction tax but that is not possible at the present time. The German government would thus aim to introduce the financial transaction tax within the EU," Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters.