The Gozo Business Chamber said in a statement that it supports INSULEUR’s position on the proposed rise in taxes for aviation and maritime fuel, which position was approved during the General Assembly of INSULEUR held in the Gran Canaria at the end of November, chaired by Joseph Borg, President of INSULEUR.

Joseph Borg highlighted that, “there are many challenges ahead and during my interventions at various levels, I had the opportunity to discuss them at length including the impact of the proposed taxation on aviation fuels.”

The position paper was formulated by two members of the technical committee – Irene Mikelis, and Daniel Borg (CEO of the Gozo Business Chamber).

Daniel Borg said that, “there should be concrete measures targeted towards enhancing both air and maritime carriers to increase their uptake of new technologies which use renewable energies . However, as currently proposed such a tax will be passed on completely to the consumer inhibiting the freedom of movement of people on islands, and will have little or no leverage in really bringing the required changes in both the air and maritime industry.”

INSULEUR highlighted among others that, while remaining fully committed to the EU’s Green Deal objectives, it considers that the increase in transport costs resulting from the revision of the Energy Tax Directive will have a higher and disproportionate impact on citizens and businesses located in EU islands, with an adverse impact on the economic and social cohesion in the EU.

This position paper was dispatched to the Czech Presidency in view of ECOFIN’s meeting of December 6th and to Eurochambres as well.

The Gozo Business Chamber concluded by saying that it is “satisfied to note that this position was also supported by the Maltese Government during the ECOFIN meeting.”

Photo: Gozo Business Chamber

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