European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen referred to as on Wednesday for decrease electrical energy taxes within the European Union to enhance competitiveness and to sort out the price of dwelling disaster.
“Whereas vitality prices are happening, taxes on vitality are going up once more,” von der Leyen mentioned in a speech on the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.
“Have a look at the taxes our business is paying on electrical energy. These taxes are 15 instances increased than taxes on gasoline, and that can not be,” she mentioned.
Von der Leyen mentioned that EU business pays a median of 34% tax on vitality, whereas households pay a median of 42%.
The fee president additionally urged extra investments within the enlargement of renewable vitality manufacturing within the 27-country bloc.
“The bottom costs for vitality are in international locations that produce considerable low-carbon vitality, be it in photo voltaic, wind, hydropower, geothermal or nuclear,” she mentioned.
“Let’s work collectively to deliver these taxes down and permit our enterprise and households to modify to utilizing domestically-produced electrical energy relatively than imported fuels.”
The speech comes on the eve of an EU leaders’ summit the place the agenda consists of the bloc’s yet-to-be determined emissions discount goal for 2040 and the financial implications of preventing local weather change.
