Brussels, 18/07/2005 (Agence Europe) - In a press release, the International Air Carrier Association (IACA) again calls on EU finance ministers to abandon the proposal concerning a contribution on air tickets, an initiative that they consider “demagogic and irrational”. Sylviane Lust, IACA Director General, considers discussions on this tax should take account of other charges weighing on aviation, beginning with the rise in kerosene prices and environmental pressures. As the price of tickets is a determining factor for many travellers, the impact on travel demand should not be neglected. The introduction of the tax is “in contradiction with the promotion of European competitiveness, to which the Commission and the States are committed”, she says. Finance ministers did not hold a real debate on this issue during the last Ecofin Council of 12 and 13 July (EUROPE 8990), but neither is there consensus on whether or not this contribution should be compulsory or voluntary. The Council seems to be waiting for the Commission's economic and financial council to provide more indepth analyses on the feasibility of the project before pursuing the debate.