France rules out special treatment for UK financial institutions

PARIS (Reuters) - An EU reform package aimed at persuading Britons to stay in the European Union must not give special treatment to London as a financial centre, French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said on Wednesday. European Council President Donald Tusk has proposed a reform package that could let non-euro zone countries such as Britain have different banking rules to those inside the shared currency bloc. "There are several proposals, several ambiguities, in the texts that could allow one to think there may be a difference in treatment between London and the others. That's not possible," Sapin told members of the finance commission in the lower house of parliament. "Treatment has to be as identical as possible and that's why we are fighting," Sapin added. (Reporting by Yann Le Guernigou and Michel Rose, writing by Leigh Thomas, editing by Alister Doyle)