EU plans to impose a green tax on aviation fuel will put large airlines at a significant advantage over smaller ones, MEP Alfred Sant has warned.

Speaking during the FISCa subcommittee on the upcoming Energy Treaty Directive, Sant explained that larger airlines will benefit because long haul flights will be exempted from tax emissions despite producing the bulk of emissions.

The former Prime minister was clear that the plans amount to a cross-subsidisation in fuel emission taxation that will only benefit large carriers.

“The proposed changes in the emissions taxation will not strike the right balance because these could likely serve to cut off remote or peripheral communities,” he said.

Sant also asked if in setting these taxes, sufficient account has been taken as to whether peripheral countries, islands and remote regions where tourism is the primary vehicle for economic development will be negatively affected, increasing further their lack of connectivity.

“Boarding a plane is the only way to travel and to be connected to the rest of the EU. In many instances, tourism has been a major pillar of economic development for communities living in these areas, for which connectivity is a major concern. There is a real danger that as proposed, emissions taxation could help to cut off remote or peripheral communities,” he said.

The Energy Taxation is a budgetary instrument used by European governments to generate money and support climate objectives. It lays budgetary instrument used by European governments to generate money and support climate objectives