Germany's Merkel rejects calls to drop nuclear tax

"It's like this with me: if anything seems like a threat or blackmail, then that usually leads me to go in the opposite direction," Merkel said in a video-interview with media group madsack published on Tuesday.

"I also don't believe I owe anything to a specific group of the society but as chancellor I have to be responsible for everyone in Germany," she added.

Her comments came after German industry on Friday launched a concerted attack on Merkel over her proposal for a tax on nuclear power providers, urging her in an open letter to drop the plan or put Germany's future at risk.

The letter follows weeks of protest by the utilities about the tax, which Merkel hopes will raise 2.3 billion euros a year as part of an 80 billion euro budget consolidation drive.

The letter said the proposed tax on Germany's 17 nuclear power plants would dampen investment in Europe's largest economy during a recovery from the country's deepest post-war recession.

Merkel has said she was open to alternatives to the tax but that the government still wanted to raise the 2.3 billion euros.

(Reporting by Annika Breidthardt)