Proposals put forward by a panel chaired by Former Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti – which push for the EU to be able to directly raise revenue – have been rejected by ECR Budgets spokesman Bernd Koelmel.

Proposals put forward by a panel chaired by Former Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti – which push for the EU to be able to directly raise revenue – have been rejected by ECR Budgets spokesman Bernd Koelmel.

Speaking as the report was published, he said:

“Once again, one of the many crises in the EU is being used to demand “more Europe”. Mario Monti’s call for a strengthening of EU’s own financial sources is indeed nothing else than a call for more Europe. We all know that after a modest start of tax rates, sooner or later higher taxes will be required. The secret desires of EU functionaries and parliamentarians are already beyond price. We should not provide them with a financing tool.

“A glance at European history shows it clearly. -Take, for example, Germany: There, a so-called solidarity tax contribution was introduced in the course of the German reunification. Today, more than 25 years later, it still exists. And as a result of the progressive tax rate, the amount of tax revenue tends to rise. The sparkling wine tax in Germany as another example, introduced by Kaiser Wilhelm in 1902 to finance the German fleet, still exists, too.

“Under no circumstances should the EU have the right to collect its own taxes, which goes beyond the existing regulations.”