BETA

Activities of Giorgos GEORGIOU related to 2021/0213(CNS)

Shadow opinions (1)

OPINION on the proposal for a Council directive restructuring the Union framework for the taxation of energy products and electricity (recast)
2022/06/03
Committee: ITRE
Dossiers: 2021/0213(CNS)
Documents: PDF(247 KB) DOC(192 KB)
Authors: [{'name': 'Robert HAJŠEL', 'mepid': 34578}]

Amendments (32)

Amendment 36 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 3 a (new)
(3a) It is necessary to take into account the different starting points of Member States and provide them with adequate flexibility with regard to the measures to be taken to respond to the social impact of energy taxation.
2022/03/09
Committee: ITRE
Amendment 46 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 5 a (new)
(5a) In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Directive, support should be given to the member states to implement public investments for the development of more energy efficient and zero-carbon transport modes.
2022/03/09
Committee: ITRE
Amendment 61 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 11
(11) Member States should also replicate at any time the ranking of minimum levels of taxation as laid down in the annex in relation to different products for each given use in order to ensure an environmentally tailored structure of rates. The minimum levels of energy taxation should be automatically aligned every year to take into account the evolution of their real value in order to preserve the current level of rate harmonization and therefore reduce the volatility stemming from energy and food prices. This alignment should be made on the basis of the changes in the Union- wide harmonised index of consumer prices excluding energy and unprocessed food as published by Eurostat.deleted
2022/03/09
Committee: ITRE
Amendment 62 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 12
(12) In order to ensure a smooth implementation of certain provisions relating to some products or uses, and to avoid undesirable effects on social and territorial equality a transitional period of application is needed.
2022/03/09
Committee: ITRE
Amendment 82 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 19
(19) The need to pursue the objectives of the Directive requires that no distinction is made between commercial and non-commercial diesel as well as business and non-business use for heating fuels and electricity.deleted
2022/03/09
Committee: ITRE
Amendment 93 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 21
(21) The Union and the Member States have concluded multilateral agreements regarding air services and air transport, or bilateral agreements with third countries. Those agreements include provisions related to the taxation of aviation fuel. Aviation fuel has traditionally had a privileged tax regime. The need to pursue the objectives of the Directive requires that, without prejudice to those international agreements, energy products and electricity supplied for intra-EU air navigation, except cargo-only flights and flights communicating islands should be taxed. The exemption for the fuel used by cargo-only flights and flights communicating islands is still needed in the absence of more efficient alternatives.
2022/03/09
Committee: ITRE
Amendment 106 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 23
(23) Fuel used for waterborne navigation, including fishing, should also be taxed, and the Member States party to international agreements providing for the exemption of that fuel, have to, by the date of the application of this Directive, ensure they eliminate the incompatibilities. It is necessary to allow for a different level of taxation to be applied to the use of energy products and electricity for intra-EU waterborne regular service navigation, fishing and freight transport and their respective at berth activities, particularly in islands and outermost regions. Considering the specificity of those uses, the minimum levels of taxation should be lower than the ones applicable to general motor fuel use. In order to provide an incentive to the use of sustainable alternative fuels and electricity, such fuels and electricity should be exempted from taxation for ten years. Energy products and electricity used for the remaining intra-EU waterborne navigation should be subject to the standard levels of taxation applicable to motor fuels and electricity in the Member States.
2022/03/09
Committee: ITRE
Amendment 118 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 25
(25) Member States should be permitted to apply certain other exemptions or reduced levels of taxation, where that will not be detrimental to the environmental objectives, to the proper functioning of the internal market and will not result in distortions of competition.
2022/03/09
Committee: ITRE
Amendment 132 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 28
(28) Targeted reductions in the tax level may provare necessary to tackle the social impact of energy taxes. An exemption from taxation may temporarily proveis necessary to protect vulnerable households.
2022/03/09
Committee: ITRE
Amendment 137 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 28 a (new)
(28a) Reiterates that energy is a public good and a human and social right. Therefore the EU should promote measures to tackle energy poverty and ensure equal access to public energy services for all.
2022/03/09
Committee: ITRE
Amendment 138 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 28 b (new)
(28b) Targeted reductions in the tax level is necessary to tackle the impact especially on islands, rural and remote areas, and outermost regions, as alternatives to current energy drivers are often difficult to implement. An exemption from taxation is necessary to protect people living in these areas.
2022/03/09
Committee: ITRE
Amendment 144 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 29 a (new)
(29a) Energy poverty should be considered as the inability of a household to support a level of energy supply adequate to guarantee quality levels of comfort and health, due to one or more of the following factors: low income, high energy prices and low quality, poor performing housing stock.
2022/03/09
Committee: ITRE
Amendment 146 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 29 b (new)
(29b) SMEs entering into agreements to significantly enhance environmental protection and energy efficiency should have special attention.
2022/03/09
Committee: ITRE
Amendment 148 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 30 a (new)
(30a) Households should be able to afford the heating, cooling and electricity needed for a decent quality of life and to live in a healthy indoor environment in both warm and cold seasons. In that regard, energy poverty should also encompass those households that spend a large share of their disposable income on energy services, those that are at risk of poverty after deducting housing and energy costs, as well as those obliged to reduce their energy expenditures due to their income conditions. The quality of housing stock should also be a criterion defining a condition of energy poverty.
2022/03/09
Committee: ITRE
Amendment 149 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 31 a (new)
(31a) The implementation of this Directive will have socio-economic consequences as well as a diverse impact between income classes and Member States. In this regard, a Social Monitor is needed in order to assign reporting obligations to both the Commission and Member States. While the Commission will provide a more holistic overview, also in relation with the evolution of energy prices, Member States will describe the social measures taken to ease the potential socio-economic consequences of the Directive, with a special emphasis on the state of energy poverty. According to the assessments of the Social Monitor, if no significant progress is made to mitigate energy poverty, Member States should decide to prolong the transition period for households living in a condition of energy poverty.
2022/03/09
Committee: ITRE
Amendment 191 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 5 – paragraph 2
2. The minimum levels of taxation laid down in this Directive shall be adapted every year starting from 1 January 2024 to take account of the changes in the harmonised index of consumer prices excluding energy and unprocessed food as published by Eurostat. The minimum levels shall be adapted automatically, by increasing or decreasing the base amount in euro by the percentage change in that index over the preceding calendar year. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 29 to amend the minimum levels of taxation as referred to in the first subparagraph.deleted
2022/03/09
Committee: ITRE
Amendment 205 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 7 – paragraph 2 a (new)
Member States may differentiate between commercial and non-commercial use of gas oil used as propellant. Commercial gas oil used as propellant’ shall mean gas oil used as propellant for the following purposes: (a) the carriage of goods for hire or reward, or on own account, by motor vehicles or articulated vehicle combinations intended exclusively for the carriage of goods by road and with a maximum permissible gross laden weight of not less than 7,5 tonnes; (b) the carriage of passengers, whether by regular or occasional service, by a motor vehicle of category M2 or category M3, as defined in Council Directive 70/156/EEC of 6 February 1970 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the type- approval of motor vehicles and their trailers.
2022/03/09
Committee: ITRE
Amendment 212 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 8 – paragraph 2 – point d a (new)
(da) islands and remote areas without properly developed public transport services.
2022/03/09
Committee: ITRE
Amendment 214 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 8 – paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Member States without properly developed low-pollutant public transport services can apply to levy 1/15 of the tax in 2023 (first year of application), increasing by 1/15 annually up to 2038 (reaching 100 % of the proposed tax).
2022/03/09
Committee: ITRE
Amendment 222 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 11 a (new)
Article 11a Micro and SMEs Member States shall support micro, small and medium enterprises with reduced level of taxation.
2022/03/09
Committee: ITRE
Amendment 240 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 15 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 1
Without prejudice to Article 5, Member states shall apply, as a single use, under fiscal control not less than minimum levels of taxation as set out in Tables B and D of Annex I to energy products supplied for use as fuel to vessels, and to electricity used directly for charging electric vessels, for the purposes of intra- EU waterborne regular service navigation, fishing and freight transport.
2022/03/09
Committee: ITRE
Amendment 250 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 15 – paragraph 1 – subparagraph 3
Over a transitional period of tfourteen years, minimum rates of zero shall apply to sustainable biofuels and biogas, low- carbon-fuels, renewable fuels of non- biological origin, advanced sustainable biofuels and biogas and electricity.
2022/03/09
Committee: ITRE
Amendment 262 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 15 – paragraph 5
5. Member States may apply under fiscal control total or partiashall exemptions to electricity directly supplied to vessels berthed in ports.
2022/03/09
Committee: ITRE
Amendment 266 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 16 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
Without prejudice to other Union provisions, Member States mayshall apply under fiscal control exemptions or reductions in the level of taxation to:
2022/03/09
Committee: ITRE
Amendment 291 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 16 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Member States shall exempt consumers under PPAs, energy communities and active consumers whose self-production of electricity derives from products specified in this Article.
2022/03/09
Committee: ITRE
Amendment 294 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 17 – paragraph 1 – point a
(a) reductions in the level of taxation, which shall not go below the minima as set out in Table C and D of Annex I, to energy products and electricity used for combined heat and power generation, without prejudice to Article 13;
2022/03/09
Committee: ITRE
Amendment 297 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 17 – paragraph 1 – point b – subparagraph 1
(b) reductions in the level of taxation, which shall not go below the minima as set out in Table B and D of Annex I, to energy products and electricity used for the carriage of goods and passengers by rail, metro, tram and trolley bus, as well as ferries in the case of islands and for local public passenger transport, waste collection, armed forces and public administration, disabled people and ambulances;
2022/03/09
Committee: ITRE
Amendment 298 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 17 – paragraph 1 – point b a (new)
(ba) after the end of the transition period, and provided that, according to the Social Monitor set out in Article 30a, significant progress has been made, Member States shall continue to exempt households recognised in a condition of energy poverty.
2022/03/09
Committee: ITRE
Amendment 305 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 17 – paragraph 1 – point c – subparagraph 3
For the purposes of point (c), energy products and electricity used by households recognised as vulnerable may be exempt for a maximum perliving in a conditiodn of ten years after the entry into force of this Directive. For the purposes of this paragraph, ‘vulnerable households’ shall mean households significantlergy poverty as defined in the Energy aEffected by the impacts of this Directive which, for the purpose of this Directive, means that they are below the ‘at risk of poverty’” threshold, defined as 60% of the national median equivalised disposable incomiciency Directive shall be exempt as long as is needed after the entry into force of this Directive.
2022/03/09
Committee: ITRE
Amendment 307 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 17 – paragraph 1 – point c – subparagraph 3 a (new)
As set out in the proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on energy efficiency (recast)(COM(2021)558), energy poverty means a household’s inability linked to the non-affordability to meet its basic energy supply needs and lack of access to essential energy services as to guarantee basic levels of comfort and health, a decent standard of living, including adequate heating and cooling, lighting, and energy to power appliances, in the relevant national context, existing social policy and other relevant policies, as a result of an in sufficient disposable income.
2022/03/09
Committee: ITRE
Amendment 308 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 17 – paragraph 1 – point d
(d) reductions in the level of taxation, which shall not go below the minima as set out in Table C and D of Annex I to energy products used for heating purposes and to electricity, used for agricultural, horticultural or aquaculture works, and in forestry.
2022/03/09
Committee: ITRE
Amendment 338 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 30 a (new)
Article 30 a Reporting obligations for the Member States - Social monitor By … [two years after the date of entry into force of this Directive] and every two years thereafter, Member States shall report to the Commission on the implementation of social measures directly or indirectly linked to the effects of this Directive. Such report shall include at least: (a) the ratio of the actual amount of increased revenues passed to MS’ national budget as a result of revised energy taxation to the amount of resources used on social measures tackling. (b) energy prices developments and relevant data available covering or mapping the energy poverty per region, per household, and per income group. (c) a detailed mapping of social instruments and measures implemented in the MS tackling the socio-economic consequences linked to the application of this revision.
2022/03/09
Committee: ITRE