Brussels, 02/03/2006 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday the French foreign affairs minister Philippe Douste-Blazy affirmed that the two day conference attended by representatives from more than 60 countries and numerous NGOs marked a “new phase” in finding new funding for development. After the meeting on finding innovative development funding sources on 28 March and 1 March, the minister also asserted that Brazil, Chile, Cyprus, Congo, Ivory Coast, France, Jordan, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mauritius, Nicaragua and Norway had stated their intention to implement an international solidarity contribution on plane tickets. Given that the United Kingdom had already made the same commitment in Manchester during the informal Ecofin Council (EUROPE 9024), and is already applying such a tax, it supported this proposals and will direct some of the proceedings to the pilot project for the International Financial Facility for Immunisation (IFFI).
The Paris conference, however, was unable to obtain the commitment from other European countries, who gave the measure, which the whole of the airline industry has rejected, a cool reception and which got no where near convincing the European Commission (whose analyses demonstrate, nevertheless, the important level of income this mechanism could generate: EUROPE 9018). More than thirty countries, including India, Belgium and Germany joined Parliament's pilot group for an International Facility for Purchasing Medicines but did not come out in favour of funding through airline ticket contributions. Other initiatives raised by NGOs, like taxes on international financial dealings were discussed in Paris but did not receive the approval of international organisations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The support from around a dozen countries for the plane ticket tax, which will be introduced in France in July (EUROPE 9133), is good news for the Trade Advisory Committee (TUAC) at the OECD, which welcomes this new phase but insists that, “these new mechanisms must supplement not replace traditional public development aid, which is targeted to reach 0.7% of the donor countries' GDP”. In a press release, John Evans, Secretary General of the TUAC underlined that, “Until now, there has been a lot of tale about the issue of innovative financing, and very little concrete action…This Paris summit symbolically marks the shift from theory to practice””. He also pointed out that, “The ball is now in the court of the G8 summit to be held in Saint Petersburg in July”.
T&E, Europe's principal sustainable transport organisation also welcomed the French measure, which ought to have a beneficial impact on the environment because it could lead to a percentage decrease in air transport and therefore a percentage decline in greenhouse gas emissions. But with the growth rate of the industry as a whole at 5% a year, the positive environmental benefits will be relatively small. The NGO is therefore calling on the EU to introduce a raft of measures for the sector, including a tax on fuel and emission charges and their inclusion in the Kyoto Protocol Emissions Trading System. In a press release Jos Dings, T&E director said, “No one should lose any sleep worrying that the richest elements of society are going to be paying a few extra Euros to combat Aids in Africa. This tax will benefit those who need it most and will also make a contribution to the battle against climate change, which will benefit us all”. T&E explains that the negative impact of the ticket tax on tourism and other business in Africa as a result of reduced travel is negligible, as flights to Africa from EU airports represent just 0.7% of the total.