Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-04-18-Speech-3-519-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20120418.25.3-519-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, you will have noticed from Mr Lambsdorff’s remarks that the issue here is not an objective debate, but rather the elections in Germany. All I can say here is that for a party on the political defensive, a debate like this, with so many wrong-headed arguments, may be one way to stay afloat. However this is to ignore the facts. The situation in Germany is that the government supported by Mr Lambsdorff’s party already levies a tax rate on diesel above the future minimum tax rate. At present, we have a minimum tax rate of EUR 0.33 in Germany, which would be increased to EUR 0.41; however, the German Government already takes EUR 0.47. In other words, there would be no immediate change. Thus, it is wrong to say that the price of diesel fuel will sky-rocket in the morning.
The second point is proportionality. We Social Democrats have always said that proportionality is not unconditional. We have tabled Amendment 15 precisely with this in mind. We must not drive the diesel engine to extinction through taxation. We Social Democrats proposed this amendment, which the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs was happy to adopt. But what happens next? Obviously our Liberal and Conservative colleagues distrust their own governments because the definition of the absolute tax rate is still a matter for the Member States and their governments. The level of distrust is so great that they believe that if this resolution is adopted, the governments they support will increase diesel taxes. That is why I can understand it when people say that this distrust will result in the rejection of proportionality. If your distrust really is so great, then I believe it is right to reject proportionality in this case.
I have one final word to add. If everyone is suddenly a supporter of diesel, then I find myself wondering why these governments are not moving to switch from taxing cars to taxing CO
emissions, benefiting the more economical diesel engine. You can do this immediately without consulting Europe. What is stopping you?"@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
"2"1
|
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples