At a meeting of EU finance ministers last week, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble proposed the introduction of a fuel tax to cover the costs of the refugee crisis. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Malta would oppose any suggestions to introduce EU-wide taxes on fuel even if these were aimed at financing the refugee crisis, government sources told the Times of Malta yesterday.

Last week, during a meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble proposed the introduction of an EU-wide tax on fuel to cover the costs of the refugee crisis.

Although no precise details were given, as the proposal is still in the embryonic stage, Germany’s idea is for the EU to impose a ‘levy’ on every litre of fuel purchased across the continent, which goes into a fund administered by Brussels.

The levy will then be used to fund the refugee crisis, including a relocation mechanism so refugees can be distributed among all the 28 member states and integrated into the community.

The German Minister said that the ‘levy’ was necessary if the EU wanted to seriously tackle the issue of migration and refugees. He warned that if member states objected to the introduction of such a tax, Germany was prepared to go ahead with those member states who agreed.

If a formal proposal is tabled by the Commission, we will vehemently oppose it

“We can also have a coalition of the willing” if there are member states who oppose such a plan, the Minister insisted.

Tax issues are very sensitive within the EU and sources in Brussels told this newspaper that there is no doubt that this proposal “will not fly”. The EU does not even have the ability to introduce EU-wide taxes as this is an area of national competence.

Finance Minister Edward Scicluna, present for last week’s meeting, could not be contacted yesterday as he was travelling back to Malta from China. However, senior government officials told the Times of Malta that the island will oppose such a fuel levy “if ever this proposal reaches the Council”.

“So far there is no formal proposal, and what the German Finance Minister said was just an idea. If a formal proposal is tabled by the Commission on Germany’s suggestions, we will vehemently oppose it,” the officials said.

At this stage, only Finland has expressed its opinion on the German suggestion.

Finance Minister Alexander Stubb said that although his country was open to the idea, the introduction of such a harmonised tax was “problematic”.

“Tax issues are the prerogative of member states and I can’t really see all the 28 members agreeing on this,” Mr Stubb said.

So far, despite many proposals and formal agreements, there has been little appetite among member states to tackle concretely the refugee crisis.

Commission President Jean Claude Juncker last week noted that despite an agreement to relocate some 100,000 refugees from Greece and Italy last year, so far only 272 refugees were relocated.