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Matthew Vella
Air passengers can expect to start paying more for their flight tickets, after the European Parliament approved the introduction of a kerosene tax on all flights arriving at or departing from EU airports.
Nationalist MEPs Simon Busuttil and David Casa voted in favour of the Eurpoean Commission’s intention to immediately introduce a jet fuel tax, and for airlines to start paying for CO2 emission permits.
MEPs voted by 439 to 74 to adopt the report drafted by Green MEP Caroline Lucas. There were 102 abstentions, among them Labour MEPs Joseph Muscat, John Attard Montalto and Louis Grech. Muscat’s vote, initially registered as being in favour, was later corrected as an abstention.
The report will form the basis of the parliament’s submission to the Commission’s forthcoming legislative proposals.
MEP Simon Busuttil has however said the report was a non-binding resolution that had no financial consequences at all. “It is not correct to conclude that it will lead to higher ticket costs.”
According to GreenSkies Alliance, a coalition of environmental groups opposing the growth of aviation, passengers could expect to pay up to EUR57 (Lm26) return to cover just the cost of purchasing CO2 permits, the London Times reported.
But Busuttil said his position was still reserved until the Commission presents an impact assessment on its proposals on reducing the climate change impact of aviation.
“It is universally accepted that higher environmental standards lead to lower public health costs. Improving standards, whether environmental or other, should not be merely seen as a cost or compared to a tax,” Busuttil said, who added he was still open on the issue.
The MEP also opposed specific paragraphs of Lucas’s report calling for an end to the VAT exemption of air transport, an amendment tabled by Green MEPs.
Aviation is not subject to VAT. The Lucas report claimed ending the exemption would level the playing field and bring about fiscal as well as environmental benefits.
Busuttil said he will be expecting Air Malta and the government to get in touch with him on the issue once a specific legislative proposal comes up for discussion.
Labour abstains
Labour MEP Joseph Muscat, whose vote in favour of the report was later registered as an abstention, said the imposition of an extra tax on air travel was not an effective solution.
“I agree with the thrust and contents of the report on the negative environmental impact of air travel, but an extra tax on air travel can only further add to the peripherality of our country and make it more difficult for our citizens to travel. One just has to see the effects of the drastic increase in the departure tax in this regard,” the MEP told MaltaToday.
Simon Busuttil said he continues to oppose the departure tax imposed by the Maltese government. “I am still calling for it to be reduced or removed altogether. This is why I had welcomed the PM’s announcement that he was prepared to reconsider this tax should the government’s financial targets be reached this year.”
Aviation contributes EUR228 billion to the European economy, but its emissions increased massively by 73 per cent since 1990, and flights are expected to more than double by 2020.
The environmental tax will cover the impact of nitrogen oxides and condensation trails emitted by aircraft, which trap heat in the earth’s atmosphere.
The report’s main proposal was to establish a dedicated emissions trading scheme, with a specific limit on the amount of CO2 emissions, which would get airlines to buy permits for their emissions.
In September 2005, the European Commission proposed the inclusion of aviation in the EU’s emissions scheme.
The report however said that due to the lack of binding commitments for international aviation emissions under the UN framework convention on climate change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol, the aviation sector would be unable to actually sell into the ETS.
mvella@mediatoday.com.mt
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