Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-11-05-Speech-3-195"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20031105.15.3-195"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, the previous speaker will probably be amazed to find that I agree with everything she said. I was surprised to discover that Mrs Honeyball, an MEP for the UK Labour Party, is calling for a Commission directive on annual road taxes in the European Union, and on the structure of car purchase tax on the grounds of completing the single market, when the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer is quoted on the front page of today's newspapers as saying 'We must explicitly reject old flawed assumptions that a single market should lead inexorably to tax harmonisation, fiscal federalism and then a federal state'.
Has Mrs Honeyball consulted Mr Brown, I wonder? Her stance hardly fits in with Mr Blair’s 'red lines' vis-à-vis the Constitution. The tax matter should continue to be subject to a unanimous vote. Mr Brown also points to the rigidities, inflexibilities and lack of competitiveness of the rest of Europe compared to the more flexible and open economy of Britain, precisely because we have control of our own taxes and currency. Ironically, in her report Mrs Honeyball underlines the belief that the annual circulation tax paid by users of private cars should be the competence of national authorities with which I would wholeheartedly agree.
In short, this is a confused and confusing report and its aim, in my view, along with the Commission communication, is to use fiscal initiatives to impose harmonisation on the grounds of environmental objectives, despite this not being an area of competence for the EU. For my part, taxation is sacrosanct to each Member State."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples