It is less than two years until the European Commission’s new emissions trading system (ETS2)—which will steadily make gasoline, diesel, and gas for heating more expensive for ordinary consumers, all in the name of ‘saving the climate’—comes into effect. Yet some governments appear still not to have properly considered how this will affect their voters.
Flemish MP Egbert Lachaert said earlier this month that his government admits “there are still no figures or calculations.”
Vlaamse Regering lanceert zondag aan de pers een klimaatplan, maar zegt nu in de plenaire vergadering @vlaparl dat er nog geen cijfers of berekeningen zijn. 🤡
Verder blijkt dat alle compensaties van ETS2 middelen moeten komen, maar die lijken 3 x uitgegeven te worden. 🤡
Journalist Lode Goukens later collated the results of various impact studies and reported that ETS2 will cost Flemish working people with diesel cars an additional thousand euros every year—a figure which can likely be applied to other Europeans in similar positions. Goukens explained that
Anyone who heats their home with gas or fuel oil, or drives a car with a combustion engine, will soon have to pay this levy. The explanation is that these revenues will be used to support people in making the climate transition.
Economist Fa Quix lamented that this economic burden will be placed on European citizens “with ZERO effect on the climate,” adding:
The system of so-called ‘market-based’ instruments amounts to a disguised, hefty tax increase by the bureaucrats of the European Commission.
Patrick Van Assche, who is chairman of Belgium’s Brecht municipal council, agreed that ETS2 is a “monstrosity”—one which “needs a complete overhaul.”
It is a flat ideological tax on the end user who cannot pass it on (unlike ETS1, which targets businesses). Despite all the ‘mitigating’ measures.
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
