Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-04-18-Speech-3-494-000"
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"en.20120418.25.3-494-000"2
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"Mr President, I wish to thank the honourable Members and Ms Astrid Lulling for the report and for the speedy and thorough treatment of this proposal.
The Commission welcomes the phasing out of the tax advantage for commercial diesel in order to achieve full internalisation of external costs. The Commission does not, however, see the need for a specific transitional period for this. Long transitional periods up to 2023 are already provided for and could be extended until 2025 in the context of an overall compromise in the Council.
As for energy consumption by households, the Commission is not now in favour of agreeing on an end date for phasing out optional tax exemptions or reductions. It also feels that it would be premature to remove the exemption for commercial aircraft and shipping fuel now, taking into account the fact that the aviation sector is covered by the EU ETS and that developments on tackling emissions in the maritime sector could take place in the near future. Both these issues will, in any case, be reviewed in the regular Commission report on the application of the new framework for energy taxation.
In conclusion, the Commission is open to discuss amendments to its proposal, provided that they do not undermine its main objectives and that they preserve its key principles.
Its main purposes are to meet the EU’s priority goals of combating climate change, improving energy efficiency, stimulating renewable energy sources and ensuring fair competition within the internal market. To achieve this, the proposal bases taxation on objective criteria – CO
emissions and energy content.
This will offer many advantages. First, taxation of energy products will be more coherent. Second, consumers will receive a consistent price signal to reduce emissions and to save energy. Third, double taxation and overlaps with the EU emission trading scheme will be removed. Fourth, use of sustainable biofuels and products from biomass will be promoted, since they will be exempt from CO
taxation. Last but not least, taxes on polluting activities are a means of shifting taxation away from labour, thereby supporting growth and competitiveness.
The impact of such far-reaching changes is addressed by providing for transitional periods up to 2023, when appropriate.
Turning to the amendments, the Commission welcomes the support for the main features of its proposal, in particular, the introduction of a CO
and energy-related element, a gradual increase of minimum rates by 2018 and the principle of equal taxation of all fuels put to the same use. The Commission would insist on keeping the ‘proportionality principle’, which means equal taxation of petrol and diesel. There is no reason to subsidise the use of diesel over the use of petrol.
The impact on demand for diesel cars should not be overestimated: the efficiency of conversion technology in current diesel cars is higher than in petrol cars, and it would still remain attractive to purchase diesel cars. Moreover, long transitional periods should ensure time to adjust. It is neither the cars of today nor the cars of tomorrow that are at stake. It is the cars of our children, or even our grandchildren.
I would like to reassure you that many of the amendments accepted by the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs concern issues which are already covered by the proposal and do not require changes to it. The Commission will continue to defend the spirit of those issues in the negotiations in the Council.
The Commission understands the call for longer transitional periods, particularly in terms of respecting the principle of equal taxation, and would support them in the Council, as part of an overall compromise. It would insist on keeping automatic indexation in order to keep the agreed level of rate harmonisation intact and to avoid an erosion of Member States’ revenue by inflation.
The Commission could accept an automatic alignment of the minimum CO
tax level to the price of ETS allowances, if a legally sound reference index can be referred to."@en1
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