"I deeply respect the independence of our Irish friends and we have done everything to help them," Sarkozy said while on a visit to an Airbus factory in Toulouse (see video).
"But they cannot continue to ask us to come and help them while keeping a tax on company profits that is half [what other countries have]," he added.
Ireland requested an 85 billion euro bailout from the EU and the International Monetary Fund late last year. As part of the negotiations, EU neighbours pressed Ireland to raise its 12.5% corporation tax rate, which lure companies to relocate from elsewhere in the euro zone.
Britain and Germany have long viewed low Irish taxes as a form of unfair competition and the finance ministers of Austria and France said the corporation tax may have to be raised as part of any deal. Their campaign ultimately failed, as the Irish government insisted the country's national sovereignty was at stake.
Sarkozy also reiterated his call for common "European economic governance" within the 17-nation euro zone.
"We cannot share the same currency while having different economic strategies. It doesn't work."
"We cannot speak about economic integration without the convergence of fiscal systems," Sarkozy added.
"With [German Chancellor Angela] Merkel, we are going to reinforce European economic integration and we're going to progress towards fiscal convergence."
At the last EU summit in December, Sarkozy said Paris and Berlin would present joint plans for greater fiscal convergence early in 2011.
(EurActiv with Reuters.)
