Strasbourg, 18/12/2000 (Agence Europe) - With the adoption of the report by José Manuel Garcia-Margallo y Marfil of the Partido Popular on the European Commission's communication on kerosene taxation, the European Parliament welcomed the Commission's proposal to authorise Member States to establish fuel taxation for internal flights or, on the basis of bilateral agreements, for intra-Community flights, while noting the Commission's conclusion whereby, for mainly economic reasons, it would not be immediately "feasible" for the EU as a whole to set in place aircraft fuel taxation on exclusively Community flights made by Community carriers. The Parliament, which stresses it is necessary to attenuate the harmful socio-economic effects that excise duties on aircraft fuel would have, invites the Council to prepare revision of the bilateral agreements on fuel and to review the possibility of applying such taxation to both internal EU transport and to transport to and from third countries. The Parliament stresses that the measures taken in this sector would not unduly compromise the competitiveness of European air transport compared to third countries. According to the EP, the Commission should have devoted a larger part of its communication to an analysis of the effects of fuel taxation on the environment.
Adopting an amendment by British Conservative Jacqueline Foster, the Parliament noted how difficult it would be to reach an international framework on kerosene taxation in the near future, and therefore supported studies aimed at determining the exchange or complementary approaches carried out in liaison with the ICAO. During the debate, several MEPs stressed that air navigation is responsible for a growing share in global greenhouse gas emissions. They hoped measures other than taxation would be taken as a matter of urgency, for example, technical improvements to engines and fuel, as well as improvements to air traffic control.