Policy papers

2015 Country-Specific Recommendations in support of the European Semester process

25th February 2015
Policy papers

Given the high potential benefits of Environmental Fiscal Reform and better EU spending by Member States to achieve the Europe 2020 Strategy targets and foster innovative low carbon investments for sustainable economies, we urge the Commission and the Member States to strongly embed in the European Semester process and reflect in Country-Specific Recommendations:

To phase-out all market-distorting environmentally harmful subsidies as soon as possible and by 2020 at the latest;
To increase the share of environmental taxes in proportion of the overall tax revenue –i.e. by shifting taxes away from labour to polluting activities by 5% by 2020;
To link the Country-Specific Recommendations with the use of EU funds by Member States to ensure better spending and maximise benefits.

As environmental NGOs we have carried out a consultation among our network of members and national experts and are pleased to provide material for consideration in respect of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, UK as well as the Eurozone in general.

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