Brussels, 18/02/2005 (Agence Europe) - After the presentation during the Ecofin Council of the Franco-German initiative on kerosene tax, the question remains open and positions are not really settled. There is no agreement at this stage either on tax or on its use, and a large number of delegations have stressed the need for an indepth analysis (yesterday's EUROPE, p.8). The Commission is expected to tackle the subject from various angles, through communications to be adopted in the spring.
At the G7, kerosene taxation had been presented as a possible source of alternative financing to development aid (EUROPE of 8 February, p.6), and Commissioner Louis Michel should prepare a communication along these lines. Another communication is to be adopted on taxation as a financing instrument in favour of the environment. The French side is mainly pleased with the mandate given to the Commission and it is recalled that the privileged framework of this taxation remains the EU with, if possible, the possibility of extending it to a global scale - a point on which the British, too, are firm, hoping to take such an initiative in an international framework.