Tax on plastic

7.8.2020

Question for written answer E-004514/2020
to the Commission
Rule 138
Hélène Laporte (ID)

To fund the recovery plan, the European Union is going to tax non-recycled plastic packaging waste from 1 January 2021 through national contributions. France could well be the biggest contributor here.

This tax, due to be applied from 1 January 2021, will be calculated on the weight of non-recycled plastic packaging ‘with a call rate of EUR 80 centimes per kilogram’ and a mechanism ‘to avoid [an] excessively regressive effect on national contributions’ that will place limits on the amount less wealthy countries will pay.

• 1.Can the Commission explain why this new own resource will now help fund the recovery plan whereas initially it was intended to offset revenue losses linked to Brexit and to balance the EU budget?
• 2.Can the Commission explain its reasons for a correction mechanism that reduces the contribution less wealthy countries pay?
• 3.Has the Commission considered the difficulties inherent in collecting this tax, particularly in France where local municipalities are responsible for waste management, not the state, but it will be the state that has to pay this contribution?