Friday

29th Mar 2024

Oettinger pushes plastic tax but colleagues express doubts

  • EU commissioners Jyrki Katainen (l) and Guenther Oettinger have shown they have different views on the feasibility of a plastic tax (Photo: European Commission)

The European Commission said on Tuesday (16 January) that it will "explore" whether an EU-wide tax on plastic is feasible, but fell short of supporting the idea amidst disagreement between its key members.

The commissioner in charge of the EU budget, Guenther Oettinger, floated the idea of a plastic tax last week as a way to plug the gap that will be left after the UK no longer contributes to the EU budget after Brexit.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • The European Commission proposed its new strategy on reducing plastic waste (Photo: Zainub Razvi)

The German commissioner had said on Tuesday that his colleagues agreed with his proposal.

But his Finnish colleague Jyrki Katainen, vice-president in charge of jobs and growth, in fact said he had "doubts" about its feasibility.

Katainen spoke in Strasbourg at a press conference presenting a commission paper titled "A European strategy for plastics in a circular economy".

The circular economy is a concept in which materials are reused and recycled, rather than thrown away.

The strategy paper, agreed by the college of commissioners earlier on Tuesday, announced several measures aimed at reducing plastic waste and incentivising recycling. It did not include a proposal for a plastic tax.

What the text of the strategy paper did include was the following phrase: "Furthermore, the commission will explore the feasibility of introducing measures of a fiscal nature at the EU level."

Katainen said that the commission will look at the options, but that it was "too early to promise anything".

"We have not yet found a way to introduce European-wide plastic tax," he said.

However, around the same time of the press conference, Oettinger published a short entry on his commission blog.

"One week after I have presented my idea on a plastic levy, we made a big step forward," Oettinger wrote.

"So glad my fellow commissioners took up my idea of a plastic levy," he said.

The 346-word blog contained three of Oettinger's thoughts on possible characteristics of the potential tax.

The centre-right German also posted a tweet writing that his fellow commissioners "backed my idea".

He posted a photo of the text and highlighted the sentence that said the commission "will explore" the options.

At the press conference however, Katainen had already expressed some concerns about relying on a plastic tax as a means to replace the steady stream of income coming from the UK government.

Less plastic = less revenue

"Our colleague Guenther Oettinger mentioned a potential tax on plastic as a potential own resource stream," he said. "But the better plastic strategy implementation we have, the less income we can collect. This is the other side of the coin."

"Whether we manage to find a well-functioning European-wide tax on plastic, I have my doubts," Katainen added.

Earlier in the day, MEP Kathleen Van Brempt also questioned whether a plastic tax would lead to a stable stream of resources for the EU budget.

"A tax on plastic bags is a sort of tax that you implement to make sure that you get rid of plastic bags," said the centre-left Belgian MEP.

"What you want is that it goes down to zero. So it is not a very good or solid base for ... resources," she added.

A few months ago, commission vice-president Frans Timmermans had already questioned the feasibility of a specific tax on microplastics.

"The only sustainable method is to create recyclable plastic and take out microplastics," the Dutchman said according to The Guardian.

"You can't take out microplastics with a tax. You need to make sure things are reused, and not put in the ocean."

Commission reveals plastic tax to cover Brexit budget hole

The Commission plans a new plastic tax, and to pocket income from the emission trading scheme, for the next EU budget. It is also studying whether there are legal grounds to link EU funds to the rule of law issue.

EUobserved

UK silent on EU origins of plastic bags law

UK prime minister Theresa May is expected to announce that a ban on free plastic bags will extend to all shops. By doing so, the UK will fulfil a requirement of an EU directive.

Analysis

EU can afford to be tough on plastic straws

The EU commission wants to ban plastic straws and cutlery. Most of these are not made in the EU, making the proposal more likely to succeed.

Opinion

Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Rather than assuming a pro-European Labour government in London will automatically open doors in Brussels, the Labour party needs to consider what it may be able to offer to incentivise EU leaders to factor the UK into their defence thinking.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us