Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-02-19-Speech-4-009"
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"Madam President, I want to thank the European Parliament for its quick handling of this proposal, in the light of the request by the European Council of last December in the context of the European Economic Recovery Plan to settle the issue of reduced VAT rates in certain sectors by March 2009.
On Amendment 5: the amendment relating to the addition of monuments and gravestones is not necessary, as a reduced rate for these supplies is already allowed by the current provisions when provided by funeral undertakings. Moreover, renovation, repair, maintenance of cultural heritage and historical monuments is also covered by the current Commission proposal which is under consideration.
On Amendment 7: I can assure you that the Commission is very keen to specifically address the question of the use of reduced rates in order to promote energy efficiency. This will be done in the framework of the ‘Green Tax Package’ currently under preparation and will be coming to the Council and Parliament in April.
In conclusion, I want to declare that the proposal would support housing, support the SMEs and save jobs, which is fully in line with the European Economic Recovery Plan. It is not an obligation but an option: Member States can decide whether or not to apply it, so it even extends their tax sovereignty.
I am pleased that the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) has adopted a draft resolution approving the Commission’s initiative, and I hope that the plenary will take the same supportive line.
I would like to thank the ECON Committee and the rapporteur, Ms van den Burg, for their support. Indeed, the quick adoption of this proposal is necessary in order to give certainty about the application of reduced rates to certain locally supplied, labour-intensive services that would otherwise have to disappear at the end of 2010. Moreover, it is important to ensure equal possibilities for all Member States in sectors such as housing and restaurants, because in these sectors Member States are currently not on an equal footing.
The current economic and financial crisis adds to the urgency of adopting and implementing this proposal. It is not the moment to destroy jobs, which would be the case if the reduced rates currently applied in 18 Member States for labour--intensive services were not made definitive. Moreover, it is important to make these reduced rates rapidly available to all Member States. By incentivising consumer spending in areas such as the housing sector, reduced rates can have positive effects on employment, in particular amongst the category of low-skilled workers, who are precisely those who risk being laid off first in the current crisis. In this context, I have already recommended to the Council to modify the proposed date of entry into force of the directive, in order to allow its application as quickly as possible after a positive decision is taken by the Council.
In the Council, the Czech Presidency is currently concentrating all its efforts on achieving a compromise concentrating on a limited number of sectors – labour-intensive, locally supplied services – to which reduced rates should be made available, as required by the European Council.
However, I have some comments on the amendments that have been tabled to this specific and limited proposal.
On Amendment 3: on the exclusion of alcoholic beverages from the restaurant services, the Commission respected the coherence of Community policies, in particular the need for coherence between VAT and excise duties, but also considering the global health policy of the EU. Contrary to some concerns, differentiating between food and non-alcoholic beverages, on the one hand, and alcoholic beverages, on the other hand, does not create a serious administrative burden for businesses. Indeed, currently, seven out of the 11 Member States applying reduced rates to restaurant services exclude alcoholic beverages without any difficulty.
On Amendment 2: as for the proposed extension of the scope of reduced VAT rates to machinery used by farmers, I consider this to be unnecessary. This is because the VAT charged on equipment serving as input for the agricultural sector is not a cost to farmers because they have the right to deduct this VAT, like any other taxable person.
On Amendments 1 and 4: concerning the amendments related to the addition of children’s clothes and footwear, I would like to remind you that the proposal under consideration is a restricted one dealing principally with locally supplied, labour-intensive services. Therefore, further extensions of the scope of the proposal should not be considered in this context. Furthermore, bearing in mind the attitude and concrete positions of some Member States, this extension would surely jeopardise the unanimous support, which we very much need, in the Council."@en1
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