Higher French penalties for gas guzzlers
The French government is reducing its subsidies for people buying fuel-efficient cars but is increasing penalties for buyers of high-consumption vehicles.
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Company car tax up
The Belgian government is putting up taxes on company cars in a package that will bring in around €200 million a year.
Sowing the seeds of smarter transport policy
Opinion by Jos Dings - T&E Director
Did we miss something? Last year, the European Commission didn’t propose a single new legislative measure to clean up transport. To be fair, it has been spending most of its time worrying about the future of the Eurozone. As a result, for T&E this was the sort of year where seeds for smarter transport policy were sown. We’re optimistic that next year could bring a decent crop of positive changes.
CO2-based car taxes
The number of EU member countries that have a CO2-based form of car taxation has increased to 17, according to figures from the European car makers association Acea.
Tackling transport demand requires conviction, and sometimes a little ruthlessness
Editorial by Chris Bowers, Editor, T&E Bulletin
The man who pioneered London’s congestion charge, Ken Livingstone, was the highest-profile speaker at last month’s T&E annual general meeting, which also celebrated T&E’s 20th birthday.
Forget about scrapping cars; scrap the subsidies instead
Jos Dings writes in today's Financial Times:
Your editorial on car scrapping schemes (Crushing problems, April 14) was scathing, and accurate. However, your contention that 'new cars tend to be better than old ones' is only partly true.
New study on impact of fuel efficiency on oil prices could change thinking
A new study commissioned by T&E has suggested that current thinking about the fuel consumption of vehicles has left out an important element – the impact of fuel efficiency standards on the price of oil. The report could change the way governments, politicians and the EU views the pricing of transport.
Germany addicted to car subsidy scheme
The highly controversial German scheme that offers incentives to scrap an old car and buy a new one is proving so popular that the government has freed up more money to extend the scheme.
Absurdity of the scrapping incentives and threats
The current fashion among Europe’s politicians seems to be providing financial incentives to scrap old cars and replace them with new ones. It is being dressed up as an environmental measure, despite evidence that it can do more harm than good, and in Germany it has led to two absurd developments.
Ministers call for 'scrapping schemes' to be coordinated; T&E wants them scrapped
EU economics ministers have asked the Commission to coordinate ‘vehicle scrapping schemes’ – taxpayer-funded payments to people who replace an old car with a new one. The schemes are being touted as environment-friendly, but T&E disputes this.