Merkel hopes the tax will raise 2.3 billion euros a year as part of a 80 billion euro budget consolidation drive that she is determined to press ahead with, keen to set an example of fiscal discipline for other euro zone countries to follow. "We have proposed a tax," Merkel told ZDF television in her first major interview since returning from her summer break.  "So long as there is no other proposal on the table, the tax remains." Merkel defended the tax plan after industry bosses and members of her own Christian Democrats (CDU) ramped up pressure on her on Friday to drop the plan. Although the nuclear tax is part of the budget consolidation drive, Merkel's centre-right government is also preparing to unveil its long-term energy plans at the end of September.