PARIS –  French finance minister Francois Baroin said Sunday that the financial transaction tax the government is planning to introduce will hit shares and derivatives, but not sovereign bonds.

"It will tax shares, derivatives and bonds, obviously with the exception of sovereign bonds," Baroin said in a radio interview. "It's a larger tax base than the stock market tax."

A stock market tax, which had been levied in France since the 19th century, was scrapped in Jan. 2008 by then-finance minister Christine Lagarde.

Baroin declined to say when the tax would first be levied, but said that the government will decide in February when the measure will take effect. He added that the tax needs to be discussed with the German government.

Germany and France have been lobbying for a broad tax on financial transactions from simple stock purchases to complex currency trades.

The move has found mixed support in Europe, and the U.K. flat out rejects any broad tax within the European Union that could hurt the ability of London-based financial markets to compete internationally.

Without the U.K. on board, German Chancellor Angela Merkel will not get the support she needs from her junior coalition partner, the Free Democrats, who vow to only back a tax that is adopted by all 27 members of the European Union. But now, Philipp Roesler, FDP chairman and German economics minister, suggests that if the U.K. won't join Europe, Europe should join the U.K.

Baroin and Bank of France governor Christian Noyer are scheduled to meet their German peers in Paris Monday.

Copyright © 2012 Dow Jones Newswires