Are any European leaders urging the EU to change the rules?
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has proposed capping VAT on fuel when prices rise too high. But he acknowledged that such a move would require his European partners’ support. The chairman of the eurozone group of finance ministers, Jean-Claude Juncker, said Mr Sarkozy’s proposal deserved discussion, but he also stressed the importance of a previous agreement on taxation. The commission’s spokeswoman on taxation, Maria Assimakopoulou, said “the question of taxes comes up very often, but still we have doubts if it is the best way to react in these cases”. The UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has called for “global solutions” to help bring oil prices down. Britain levies the highest fuel duty in the EU. Can EU governments subsidise hard-hit sectors? EU competition rules forbid state subsidies for ailing sectors of a nation’s economy. Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg says that “fuel subsidies, besides being illegal, would do absolutely nothing to deal with the underlying problems”. He urge
