Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-02-13-Speech-1-172"
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"en.20060213.15.1-172"2
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".
Mr President, I am pleased to contribute to this debate on the confiscation of cars in Greece. I have read, and now I have heard, Mr Cashman’s report with great interest, and I share all the concerns expressed in it. The issues highlighted in the report are of great importance not only for this specific case but also as regards their impact on the Commission initiatives in the field of car taxation and the fundamental rights of citizens.
I thank you for your attention and look forward to the debate.
Let me say a few words on the case in question. In addition to the numerous petitions received by Parliament, the Commission has received a great number of complaints over recent years about an administrative practice which leads to the confiscation of cars. I do not intend to go deeply into technical details, but, as you know, Community law allows a citizen resident in one Member State – I emphasise ‘resident’ and not ‘national’ – to use his or her car for personal reasons in another Member State without being obliged to register his or her car in that other Member State, provided certain conditions are met. One of these conditions is that the use in the other Member State does not exceed six months in one year.
The application of this directive has been quite problematic in Greece. It has led to an administrative practice which, unfortunately, has disregarded the fact that, in many cases, the normal residence of Greek citizens is in a state other than Greece. This practice penalises mostly Greek nationals who do not live and work in Greece on a permanent basis. The outcome has been, as you can see from the report, the imposition of very high fines resulting in the confiscation of the vehicles concerned, followed sometimes by their sale at auction, even before a national judge could come to a decision on the case. The Commission has also been informed in the past that, in some cases, this has led to prison sentences. For these reasons, the Commission has launched an infringement procedure and brought the case before the European Court of Justice.
Let me stress that it is neither the intention nor to the benefit of the Commission to single out one Member State instead of another, since in one way or another every Member State faces its own difficulties in the path towards the realisation of a real internal market, where fundamental freedoms and the respect of Community law should be guaranteed.
To a large extent, car taxation is not yet harmonised at Community level. Nevertheless, the freedom that Member States enjoy has to be exercised within the framework laid down by the directives applicable in this field and within the general principles of Community law, which represent the fundamentals of the construction of the European Union.
When an individual incurs significant adverse economic consequences if he or she seeks to make use of his of her car for a certain period of time in another Member State, especially when this is allowed by Community law, this represents a risk to the free movement of citizens within the Union.
It is also true that Member States are free to determine the fines that they feel are adequate for an infringement of their laws, assuming that an infringement really occurs. However, they should respect the principle of proportionality. A practice which also disregards the evidence that residence is maintained in a Member State or which imposes high fines without taking into account the good faith of the offender should also be rectified.
The Commission, at this stage, has taken all the necessary steps allowed by the Treaty in order to tackle this situation. However, the Commission welcomes an initiative like this, which allows a further reflection on the impact that vehicle taxation has on the life of EU citizens.
To conclude, let me say that, looking at the broader perspective, the Commission is not only proceeding with its infringement policy but is also taking a proactive approach in the field of legislative proposals. In July 2005, the Commission adopted my proposal on a draft directive on car taxation, which is intended to remove existing tax obstacles to the transfer of passenger cars from one Member State to another and thus improve the functioning of the internal market. One of the objectives of the proposal is the abolition of the registration tax in order to incorporate it into the annual circulation tax over a period of five to ten years. The proposal is currently being discussed in various parliamentary committees and in the Council, and I call for your support on this matter."@en1
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