Hungarian presidency seeks to exempt planes and ships from fuel tax for 20 years - T&E reaction

The Hungarian Presidency has put forward a compromise proposal on the Energy Taxation Directive (ETD), with a section on aviation and maritime taxation, which has been circulated to member states. They are proposing to exempt aviation and shipping from fuel tax for the next 20 years. The text recommends that the EU, after 15 years, examines "whether all conditions are met to apply the same minimum level of taxation to aviation fuel as motor fuels".

Jo Dardenne, aviation director at T&E:

“It’s hard to find the words to describe the absurdity of a proposal to delay the introduction of a jet and maritime fuel tax to 2049, if not for ever. With its proposal, the Hungarian government has completely obliterated the very purpose of this last piece of the Green Deal which was to put a price on dirty fuels. This is a farce. By the time this tax would be in effect, the world is meant to have reached climate neutrality. The only solace is the conservation of a fuel tax for yachts and private jets - putting an end to the injustice enjoyed by the wealthiest.”

One of the reasons justifying the delay of the tax is that zero-emissions fuels are not yet widely available. This raises the question: how is a market for more expensive sustainable fuels supposed to develop when companies can access untaxed fossil fuel for the next 20 years? New technologies like electric cars or renewable energy didn't become competitive without the external costs of the polluting technology being internalized. 

The text also uses flexibility as an argument to leave it up to EU Member States to decide on whether and what to tax, but the goal of the ETD is to provide harmonised standards across the EU.