EU Finance Ministers expressed some enthusiasm about exploring energy taxation options as a solution to climate change during a very general discussion at the informal ECOFIN Council meeting in Helsinki on Saturday 14 September.
“We all agreed that energy taxation can be used to further the achievement of climate and energy objectives. I’m confident the outcome of our discussion will be taken into account if the decision is made to revise the Energy Taxation Directive”, said Finnish Finance Minister Mika Lintilä at the press conference following the discussion.
While this statement shows some confidence, for the time being, no concrete solutions or proposals have emerged during this debate, which echoed the previous day's discussions on climate change (see EUROPE 12327/4). Thus, as Valdis Dombrovskis, the Commissioner responsible for the Euro and Social Dialogue, acknowledges, “there are a number of possible solutions” in this context, options that have been discussed here.
Aviation taxation has certainly been the most talked about. “It is obvious that the environmental cost of air transport must be better reflected in the economic cost of this mode of transport”, Bruno Le Maire, the French Minister of Finance, had pointed out the day before. This idea has received support from northern European countries, but island states, particularly Malta and Cyprus, which are partly dependent on aviation, are much more sceptical. The latter position is reminiscent of the negotiations concluded last November on anti-competitive practices by airlines from third countries (see EUROPE 12142/14).
More generally, several States would like the social impact of a particular option to be considered, when other delegations, such as Estonia, have been much less enthusiastic about climate commitments by 2050.
In any case, the evaluation of the 2003 Energy Taxation Directive should make it possible to consider whether or not to revise this text (see EUROPE 12326/20). And Mr Dombrovskis insisted that the Union should “make progress” on the climate issue during the mandate of the next European Commission, led by Ursula von der Leyen. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)