Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-11-05-Speech-3-198"
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"en.20031105.15.3-198"2
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".
Mr President, political realism has led the Commission to initiate consultation with the Council, the European Parliament and important stakeholders on passenger car taxation before drafting any legislative proposal on this issue.
I understand that many Members of Parliament would have preferred a more ambitious report, especially as far as the measures to be taken against the fragmentation of the internal market are concerned.
The Commission will take the conclusion of this report seriously into account before taking any initiative in this area. The fact that a number of different approaches have been voiced in this room tonight provides an indication of how difficult it will be to reach a unanimous decision in Council on such policy measures.
With reference to the conclusions of the report, the Commission would like to express its gratitude to the European Parliament for the strong support it has given to policy measures, such as those necessary to abolish registration taxes (paragraph 16), to bring forward changes in order to introduce an environmentally-oriented tax system (paragraphs 12 and 13), and to use tax differentials as a tool to promote passenger cars producing less than 120 grammes per kilometre of carbon dioxide emissions (paragraph 7). Additionally, the Commission agrees in principle with a large number of paragraphs, such as 1, 4, 6, 10, 11, 14, 17, 18, 19 and 21.
Concerning paragraphs 2, 3 and 15, the Commission does not share the view that existing barriers to free circulation of passenger cars within the internal market are due only to administrative practices or procedures. The Commission considers that a clear reference to tax barriers, and particularly to double taxation caused by registration taxes, should be stated in these paragraphs, as is the case under the relevant part of the explanatory statement.
With regard to paragraph 5, which refers to the Annual Circulation Tax, the Commission does not share the view that this tax does not affect the functioning of the internal market. Diversified tax bases and important divergences in ACT levels can provide an incentive to citizens to register their car in a Member State other than the one where they normally reside, which means this tax does affect the internal market.
With regard to Amendment 2, the Commission does not support including safety of passenger cars among its objectives. The danger would be that the possible effect of fiscal incentives would be watered down. Moreover, the problem of road accidents could be better addressed by other instruments such as speed cameras, fines, education, separate bicycle lanes and so on.
I listened with great interest to the brief altercation between some British Members of Parliament, whilst thinking of Minister Dawn Primarolo, who spent four years ironing out harmful tax measures. If one really were in favour of unlimited tax competition, why would one want to iron out so-called harmful tax measures? Next time such Members of Parliament who have spoken on this matter meet Minister Primarolo, they might perhaps give her a piece of their mind and tell her that she has wasted four years of her time in trying to stamp out fiscal competition.
That said, I should like once again to thank Parliament and the rapporteur for their efforts and their supportive report."@en1
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