Call for higher taxes on luxury cars

Taxation on luxury cars consuming excessive amounts of fuel should increase drastically because of their adverse social and ecological impacts, Żminijietna - Voice of the Left, said yesterday.

Another method of cutting down emissions from transport is a widespread reform in public transport, the leftist group said.

It also appealed for a stand against raising the share of biofuels within the EU by the Maltese government and Maltese members of the European Parliament. Representatives of EU member states are meeting to decide upon sustainability criteria.

Żminijietna said EU leaders want to raise the share of biofuels in transport from the present levels of about two per cent to 10 per cent by 2020.

Increasing biofuel production will result in massive increases in food prices and more widespread hunger. The organisation said agricultural land is being used to produce biofuel instead of food crops, thus causing food shortage.