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French protectionists have no shame...
Look at the European tariff that de Villepin just dreamed up for Chinese, Indian, US, and Australian goods.
From the FT...
From the FT...
De Villepin proposes European carbon tax levy
By Delphine Strauss in Paris
Published: November 13 2006 20:18 | Last updated: November 13 2006 20:18
Countries that refuse to join international efforts to cut greenhouse emissions – such as the US and China – should face a European carbon tax on their imports, Dominique de Villepin, the French prime minister, proposed on Tuesday.
The controversial proposal is likely to heighten suspicions that Europeans are using environmental arguments to justify protectionist restrictions on trade. It would require full European Union support to become reality.
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Mr de Villepin’s plan is intended to put pressure on China, Brazil and India at this week’s climate change talks in Nairobi, where countries are meeting to discuss a post-Kyoto framework. Emerging economies, whose carbon emissions are rising rapidly with the growth of manufacturing exports, are under pressure to commit to cuts in greenhouse gases once the Kyoto Protocol runs out in 2012.
“We have decided to reinforce the principle that the polluter pays,” said Mr de Villepin, who will put concrete proposals to other EU member states by March. He also announced a domestic tax on coal and aircraft noise and said further measures could include road charging in big towns and taxing lorries on cross-Alpine routes.
“It’s not right that Europe should make considerable efforts while other major players do not,” one of Mr de Villepin’s officials told Le Monde. “China is fast catching up Europe in high technology; it must also make an effort on environmental issues.”
France’s proposal to tax imports from recalcitrant countries may be designed to rebutt criticism by the European Commission that the emission quotas Paris has set the country’s industrial sector are too generous. Companies argue that the cost of complying with tougher quotas puts them at a disadvantage to international competitors. A carbon tax on imports would restore the balance.
But developing countries are likely to regard the tax proposal as a barrier to trade.
“The next round of protectionism from Europe is likely to be based on some spurious argument like food miles,” Helen Clark, New Zealand’s prime minister, said last month. The country’s farmers are indignant at suggestions their produce could be subjected to taxes reflecting the distance it is transported to its end market.
The package presented by Mr de Villepin on Tuesday is the latest effort by French political heavyweights to demonstrate their green credentials, after the publication of the UK’s Stern review on climate change helped bring environmental issues to the fore of the European political agenda.
Laurent Fabius, a contender for the socialist party nomination, offered to make the popular ecologist Nicolas Hulot his second in command if elected.
By Delphine Strauss in Paris
Published: November 13 2006 20:18 | Last updated: November 13 2006 20:18
Countries that refuse to join international efforts to cut greenhouse emissions – such as the US and China – should face a European carbon tax on their imports, Dominique de Villepin, the French prime minister, proposed on Tuesday.
The controversial proposal is likely to heighten suspicions that Europeans are using environmental arguments to justify protectionist restrictions on trade. It would require full European Union support to become reality.
ADVERTISEMENT
Mr de Villepin’s plan is intended to put pressure on China, Brazil and India at this week’s climate change talks in Nairobi, where countries are meeting to discuss a post-Kyoto framework. Emerging economies, whose carbon emissions are rising rapidly with the growth of manufacturing exports, are under pressure to commit to cuts in greenhouse gases once the Kyoto Protocol runs out in 2012.
“We have decided to reinforce the principle that the polluter pays,” said Mr de Villepin, who will put concrete proposals to other EU member states by March. He also announced a domestic tax on coal and aircraft noise and said further measures could include road charging in big towns and taxing lorries on cross-Alpine routes.
“It’s not right that Europe should make considerable efforts while other major players do not,” one of Mr de Villepin’s officials told Le Monde. “China is fast catching up Europe in high technology; it must also make an effort on environmental issues.”
France’s proposal to tax imports from recalcitrant countries may be designed to rebutt criticism by the European Commission that the emission quotas Paris has set the country’s industrial sector are too generous. Companies argue that the cost of complying with tougher quotas puts them at a disadvantage to international competitors. A carbon tax on imports would restore the balance.
But developing countries are likely to regard the tax proposal as a barrier to trade.
“The next round of protectionism from Europe is likely to be based on some spurious argument like food miles,” Helen Clark, New Zealand’s prime minister, said last month. The country’s farmers are indignant at suggestions their produce could be subjected to taxes reflecting the distance it is transported to its end market.
The package presented by Mr de Villepin on Tuesday is the latest effort by French political heavyweights to demonstrate their green credentials, after the publication of the UK’s Stern review on climate change helped bring environmental issues to the fore of the European political agenda.
Laurent Fabius, a contender for the socialist party nomination, offered to make the popular ecologist Nicolas Hulot his second in command if elected.
). Since trying to do the latter is the much harder option, it also must be the right thing to do! And by supporting it, the neo-cons can think of themselves as enlightened elites who are supporting the good fight, sacrificing short-term reality for the supposed wonderful victory celebration just around the corner.
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