Proposition 53K2560

Projet de loi portant modification de l'article 419 de la loi-programme du 27 décembre 2004 et de l'article 4 de la loi du 10 juin 2006 concernant les biocarburants.

General information ¶

Submitted by

PS | SP the Di Rupo government

Submission date

Dec. 12, 2012

Official page

Visit

Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

excise duty indirect tax motor fuel reduction of gas emissions substitute fuel

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

Groen CD&V Vooruit Ecolo LE PS | SP Open Vld MR VB

Abstained from voting

∉ N-VA LDD

Party dissidents ¶

• Peter Luykx (CD&V) abstained from voting.

Contact form ¶

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Discussion ¶

Dec. 19, 2012 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

I refer to the written report.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to explain with my presentation our voting behavior.

This bill amends, inter alia, Article 4 of the Law of 10 June 2006 on biofuels.

The entire objective of the draft law is to extend the original validity period of the approvals granted to production units by another six years, so that the approved production units can deliver their allocated volume in full. After all, after six years, it has been shown that the volumes have not been fully used. We are not against that.

In addition, the text aims to increase the percentage of compulsory mixing. In this way, this volume can be obtained faster. We have nothing against this too.

The problem for us is that only the law of 10 June 2006 is amended. This just settles the financial side of the case. This includes reduced rates of excise duties on certain energy products using biofuels.

We are very sorry that only that part has been adjusted. The mandatory mixing was only approved by the law of 22 July 2009. Thus, it took three years before a consensus was reached on mandatory mixing. I think that is one of the reasons why the predetermined volumes have not been achieved.

We have no problem with the extension, but we would like to see that in the law of 22 July 2009, which regulates the mandatory mixing, the percentages were also adjusted to ensure that the measure is not postponed.

Mr. Minister, you have indicated yourself that the second law does not need to be amended immediately, since the current regulation still applies until 30 September 2013. You only needed this section to request permission from Europe for the renewal of the regulation.

For us, this remains a point to remember at the end. We are in favour of the bill, but we fear that it will take a long time before the amendment to the July 2009 law will be implemented.

Mr. Speaker, in the committee we have already been able to respond to the position of the previous speaker of her group, which can be summarized as meritorious, but insufficient.

I acknowledge that a second session in Parliament will need to be discussed and that the timing of it is a little wider. The Minister of Economy will undoubtedly endeavour to arrive on time with the second draft for the day. As the speaker himself pointed out, it is absolutely imperative that we get the tax section approved before the end of the year, in order to be able to orderly complete the notification to the Commission.

I remember especially the fact that she already finds our step meritorious and I will remember a little less that she still finds it not enough.

Thank you for appreciating our comments. We will surely follow Minister Vande Lanotte closely and check whether he actually puts the amendments to the respective laws for discussion in the committee.