Brussels, 24/09/2010 (Agence Europe) - At a press conference in Strasbourg on 21 September 2010, the chair of the EPP group at the European Parliament, Joseph Daul, said that in the next EU budget (2014 onwards), the question should definitely be raised of the EU raising its own income and the introduction of a European tax, not to increase the tax burden on Europeans but to improve the cost effectiveness of the tax they pay.
Joseph Daul said that questions like immigration, energy, climate change, research and innovation can only be properly dealt with these days at EU level, which means that money should be saved at national level in these areas and invested collectively, which will lead to lower costs for the Member States at the end of the day. This is the key issue, he said, with the upcoming EU budget for 2014 to 2010 (the 'Financial Perspectives') because Member States do not want any increase in the EU budget. Countries think that because they have to cut costs at national level, they should do the same at EU level. Daul said that the EPP did not disagree, but puts it differently - rather than spending money at national level on areas where the EU is more efficient, why not spend that cash collectively? Hence the need for a debate about introducing an EU tax.
An EU tax could be introduced in the financial industry, for example, on financial transactions, or there could be a tax on carbon dioxide emissions, explained the EPP head. He recommended a genuine EU-wide tax to avoid creating an uneven playing field from one country to the next.
The European Commission refuses to rule out any options for its report on changes to the EU's budget, a report expected to be published next month, and is planning to hold a debate about an EU tax that would go straight into the EU coffers, unlike the current set-up where the EU budget comes from payments made by the 27 Member States. The debate will be tricky because various Member States, including France and Germany, have rejected the idea of such a tax. Germany is in favour of an EU-wide tax on financial transactions but does not want the income raised to go to the EU budget. (L.C. trans fl)