Brussels, 13/11/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 13 November, the EU27's finance ministers discussed the taxation of private car ownership for the first time, looking at the draft directive on harmonising taxation on private cars. The Portuguese Presidency had come up with a draft compromise, suggesting the keeping of registration charges for cars, setting up a compensation system for when cars are registered in a new member state and the introduction of flexibility to allow private car ownership taxation to take account of environmental concerns (see EUROPE 9538).
The Portuguese Presidency was at pains to ensure its draft compromise would be acceptable to a large number of member states, explained Portuguese finance minister Fernando Teixeira Dos Santos. He said there had been broad convergence of opinion among member states in favour of the proposal but a number of member states feel that the EU does not have the power to legislation in this field, although they agree on the inclusion of environmental concerns when calculating taxation on private car ownership. At the negotiations at Council expert group level, eight member states, including the UK, Ireland and Austria, challenged the utility of an EU directive, particularly the compulsory addition of environmental concerns when deciding on the level of taxation, explained a diplomat. (M.B.)