Sarkozy withdraws carbon tax as France resists trend towards higher fuel taxes

The tax was originally announced last year as Sarkozy looked to promote France as a leader in the run-up to the Copenhagen climate summit. It was due to raise between €3.5 and €4.5 billion a year by adding a few cents to each litre of transport fuel and each household gas bill. But the French prime minister François Fillon said the government was withdrawing the tax, and instead pressing for a carbon levy at EU level.

The French environmental movement was very angry, with 10 NGOs saying in a letter to Sarkozy they were ‘outraged by the contempt that characterises this decision’. They were supported by the junior environment minister, Chantal Jouanno.

The French move is out of step with recent trends, which have seen a third of EU members increasing fuel taxes by more than two cents a litre or more over the past few months. Nine states have put up their taxes by at least two cents, and Romania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Greece and Ireland by five cents or more. Greece’s petrol tax went up by more than 20 cents. In contrast, countries like Spain, Austria and Luxembourg kept their already low taxes unchanged.