The Times reports that Janusz Lewandowski, the Polish EU budget commissioner will today present his proposals to reform the EU budget, 40% of which is gobbled up by Europe's farmers.
He is expected to suggest new taxes to fund the EU and its ever growing and expensive activities including salary increases and the translation of all EU documents from any of the 23 or so languages involved into any of the others. These taxes will include new ones on carbon emissions and air transport. Aviation, far from being a sacred cow to be looked after has become everyone's cow to be milked to exhaustion. While aircraft and engine manufacturers and airline managements have driven for ever more efficient products and hugely expanded their markets to the benefit of the world's electorates, politicians continue to snatch the benefits from under their noses to fill gaps in their often grossly mismanaged national coffers.The airlines, fearful of noisy and fashionable environmental lobbies have so far been very muted, even hand-wringingly cooperative in their responses. It is time they woke up to the dangers to their growth and survival that these national highwayman acts pose. Already many governments are making far more profit from airlines than the companies themselves are.Indeed they make this profit even when the airlines are making losses.
Barricades folks? And, oh yes, anyone for sorting out the gross overspend costs of the EU administration rather than just pouring ever more money into it so that it doesn't have to face its own realities?
