On Wednesday 4 June, Johan Van Overtveldt MEP (ECR, Belgian) decided to relaunch discussions in the European Parliament on the revision of the Energy Taxation Directive (ETD). He wants to take account of the new economic and geopolitical situation.
In April 2024, he had decided not to put the text to the vote because he was unable to reach an agreement with the S&D and Greens/EFA groups (see EUROPE 13391/14). “Today, we are facing next to the climate challenge, also deep and structural competitiveness concerns”, he stressed to the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON).
In its new version, the draft report stresses the importance of technological neutrality. “The directive should create space for all technologies to compete fairly and contribute to our shared goals of sustainability and competitiveness”, said the rapporteur.
He suggested shifting from volume-based taxation to energy content-based taxation, which would “reflect the underlying economic, environmental characteristics of different fuels in a better way”.
“We want an energy tax system that is fair, that is climate aligned, that is free from broad, targeted fossil fuel exemptions, and that is supportive of a level playing field for clean European industries”, said Matthias Ecke (S&D, German). He welcomed the introduction of fair carbon pricing, with which “we refrain from distorting competitions and from weakening European competitiveness”. However, he criticised the changes to the transitional periods, combined with mid-term review clauses that “could allow extensions without any clear end date”. He also rejected certain exemptions.
While Jaroslava Pokorná Jermanová (PfE, Czech), represented by her compatriot Tomáš Kubín, wants to see nuclear energy taxed more favourably, Katri Kulmuni (Renew Europe, Finnish) wants to exclude biofuels from the scope and exempt small-scale electricity and biogas production. Pasquale Tridico (The Left, Italian) is for taxing the airline industry more.
MEPs have until Wednesday 18 June to table their amendments to the draft report. Discussions within the Council of the EU have been ongoing since 2021 (see EUROPE 13639/2).
To read the draft report: https://aeur.eu/f/h82 (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)