Latest news with #Élysée
Daily Mirror
13 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Spain and France go after mega-rich in huge changes to air travel rules
France and Spain are among a group of countries that have pledged to tax premium flying and private jets. In a bid to raise funds for climate action and sustainable development, the European nations along with Kenya and Barbados have committed to upping the levy. It is not yet known how much the levy would be, with details of how the mechanism would work expected at the COP30 climate summit this November. However, in a report published on June 19, the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force estimated that these measures could 'generate substantial revenues' of up to €187 billion (£160 billion). Changes in the national legislation of the countries involved is planned as soon as next year, Climate Home News reports. Tensions erupt at UK's most exclusive billionaire's private jet fair The initiative was launched at the UN Finance for Development summit in Seville, Spain. Representatives from governments, financial institutions, and civil society are attempting to determine how to channel more money towards efforts to tackle climate change, among other issues. The coalition's goal is 'to increase the number of countries applying taxes on airline tickets, including for luxury travel, and to tax private jets based on best practices,' the French Élysée's said in a statement. Sierra Leone, Benin, Antigua and Barbuda and Somalia, also backed the pledge, which will get technical support from the European Commission, the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force said in a separate statement. Rebecca Newsom of Greenpeace told Reuters that the move was "an important step towards ensuring that the binge users of this undertaxed sector are made to pay their fair share". "Flying is the most elitist and polluting form of travel, so this is an important step toward ensuring heavy users of this undertaxed sector pay their fair share," she said. The coalition on premium flying levies was born out of the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force, which launched in 2023. It has been looking for ways to raise new sources of finance for climate and development from sectors that contribute disproportionately to global carbon emissions, or those that are undertaxed, such as aviation, fossil fuels or financial transactions. Friederike Röder, director of the task force's secretariat, told Climate Home that targeting aviation first is a 'very pragmatic' choice. 'It's something that can be put in place quite quickly, it makes sense economically speaking from a tax justice and climate perspective, and can generate a significant sum,' she said. Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the coalition would 'work toward a greater contribution from the aviation sector' to improve 'climate resilience'. Earlier this year, tensions flared at an ultra-luxury private jet fair when protesters unfurled banners and chanted for the abolition of billionaires. Overall private aviation emissions increased by 46% between 2019-2023, with industry expectations of continued strong growth, according to one Nature journal Communications Earth & Environment study. It also found that most of these small planes spew more heat-trapping carbon dioxide in about two hours of flying than the average person does in about a year. In 2023, roughly a quarter million of the super wealthy, who were worth a total of $31 trillion, emitted 17.2 million tons (15.6 million metric tons) of carbon dioxide flying in private jets. That's about the same amount as the overall yearly emissions of the 67 million people who live in Tanzania. Stefan Gossling, a transportation researcher at the business school of Sweden's Linnaeus University, said the issue wasn't so much the emissions, which remain a small part of those produced globally, but the lack of fairness. 'The damage is done by those with a lot of money and the cost is borne by those with very little money,' Gossling said. A separate report by Oxfam claimed that billionaires emit more carbon pollution in 90 minutes than the average person does in a lifetime.
Local France
a day ago
- Business
- Local France
France and Spain lead efforts to tax private jets
The two European nations – along with Kenya, Benin, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Barbados plus Antigua and Barbuda – launched a coalition at a UN conference on development financing in Seville to tighten up taxation of the aviation sector, including the prospect of taxes on private jets and passengers travelling in business or first class. Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the coalition would 'work toward a greater contribution from the aviation sector' to improve 'climate resilience'. In a statement, France's Élysée palace confirmed this initiative, specifying that it aims to 'improve the mobilisation of national revenues in developing countries and support international solidarity,' with particular emphasis on adapting to climate change. Advertisement The coalition's goal is 'to increase the number of countries applying taxes on airline tickets, including for luxury travel, and to tax private jets based on best practices,' the Élysée's statement continued, while ensuring 'further progress in countries that already have such levies.' The announcement was welcomed by Greenpeace, which urged 'all countries to join and implement the commitments' made by this 'new solidarity coalition' in time for COP30, which will be held in November in Belem, Brazil. 'Flying is the most elitist and polluting form of travel, so this is an important step toward ensuring heavy users of this undertaxed sector pay their fair share,' insisted Rebecca Newsom, head of Greenpeace's 'Stop Drilling, Start Paying' campaign. At COP28 in 2023, Barbados, France, and Kenya launched a working group, with the support of the European Commission, to consider so-called 'global solidarity' levies on polluting sectors such as fossil fuels and aviation. This group, which has since worked on the introduction of specific taxes on private jets and airline tickets, estimated in a report published on June 19th that these measures could 'generate substantial revenues' of up to €187 billion. France already levies an 'eco tax' on airline tickets , which is charged on a sliding scale with higher rates for first class tickets and private jets.
Local Spain
a day ago
- Business
- Local Spain
France and Spain lead efforts to tax private jets
The two European nations – along with Kenya, Benin, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Barbados plus Antigua and Barbuda – launched a coalition at a UN conference on development financing in Seville to tighten up taxation of the aviation sector, including the prospect of taxes on private jets and passengers travelling in business or first class. Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the coalition would 'work toward a greater contribution from the aviation sector' to improve 'climate resilience'. In a statement, France's Élysée palace confirmed this initiative, specifying that it aims to 'improve the mobilisation of national revenues in developing countries and support international solidarity,' with particular emphasis on adapting to climate change. The coalition's goal is 'to increase the number of countries applying taxes on airline tickets, including for luxury travel, and to tax private jets based on best practices,' the Élysée's statement continued, while ensuring 'further progress in countries that already have such levies.' The announcement was welcomed by Greenpeace, which urged 'all countries to join and implement the commitments' made by this 'new solidarity coalition' in time for COP30, which will be held in November in Belem, Brazil. 'Flying is the most elitist and polluting form of travel, so this is an important step toward ensuring heavy users of this undertaxed sector pay their fair share,' insisted Rebecca Newsom, head of Greenpeace's 'Stop Drilling, Start Paying' campaign. At COP28 in 2023, Barbados, France, and Kenya launched a working group, with the support of the European Commission, to consider so-called 'global solidarity' levies on polluting sectors such as fossil fuels and aviation. This group, which has since worked on the introduction of specific taxes on private jets and airline tickets, estimated in a report published on June 19th that these measures could 'generate substantial revenues' of up to €187 billion. France already levies an 'eco tax' on airline tickets, which is charged on a sliding scale with higher rates for first class tickets and private jets.
Times
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Times
Napoleon admirer launches new party in bid for presidency
Dominique de Villepin, France's former prime minister, likened himself to Joan of Arc and Napoleon Bonaparte on Tuesday as he signalled his intention to become president. De Villepin, 71, who led his country's refusal to join the war in Iraq in 2003, is seeking to portray himself as the saviour of a nation in decline. Opponents accuse him of a cheap attempt to exploit the country's political chaos by appealing to left-wing Muslims and mainstream centrist voters. He has launched his own political party, La France Humaniste (Humanist France), which he hopes will carry him to the Élysée in 2027. The move is reminiscent of President Macron's strategy in 2016, when he founded his own party before a successful run for the presidency a year later. Macron campaigned as an outsider who would rise above petty political squabbling to lead pragmatists into battle against populism. De Villepin seems to be employing the same tactics, although he denied following in Macron's footsteps. With the incumbent unable to run for a third term, the 2027 election is clouded in uncertainty. Marine Le Pen, leader of the populist right National Rally and frontrunner in the polls, has been barred from running for office after being convicted of corruption. She will only be able to stand if she overturns her sentence on appeal next year. On the left, the radical Jean-Luc Mélenchon is keen to stand for a fourth time but has been accused of antisemitism. On the centre-right there are half a dozen contenders, although none have captured the public imagination to emerge as a favourite. De Villepin, who was interior minister, foreign minister and prime minister during the presidency of Jacques Chirac between 2002 and 2007, has yet to announce his candidacy officially but has made clear his intention to run. An Ifop poll last month found him to be the country's most popular politician with 51 per cent of respondents saying they had a good opinion of him. His aim is to win broad support by reaching out to the left with a pro-Arab message while hoping that his record in government will be enough to ensure support from the centre and the centre-right. In interviews with French media outlets, he suggested that Macron had demeaned the presidency by meddling in day-to-day politics and said that France needed an 'arbiter' above the fray who would 'inspire the nation'. Vaunting his experience in government he added: 'We need more professionalism and less of a bidding war [between politicians] in television studios.' He said the launch of La France Humaniste was the 'starting point for an action that stems from a great French tradition'. In a pitch for voters on the left and right, he cast himself as heir to the country's greatest figures: the likes of Joan of Arc; Napoleon Bonaparte; Jean Jaurès, the socialist assassinated in 1914; Pierre Mendès-France, the moderate postwar leftwinger; and General Charles de Gaulle, the resistance leader and president. Detractors, however, believe he is making a cynical grab for a left-wing ethnic minority vote with his outspoken criticism of Israel's military intervention in Gaza.
LeMonde
21-06-2025
- Business
- LeMonde
The French government is stepping in to rescue Eutelsat
On Friday, June 20, President Emmanuel Macron is expected at the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget and aims to make the event a turning point for France and Europe's space strategy. "We are witnessing a dramatic acceleration of the space sector" that "is being privatized at breakneck speed with extremely ambitious projects, especially from the Americans, but also from Chinese players." It is also "becoming militarized very, very quickly," explained an Élysée adviser ahead of the president's midday speech from the "Paris Space Hub" – the Le Bourget hall devoted entirely to the sector. The war in Ukraine has highlighted Europe's dependence on Starlink, Elon Musk's satellite communications network. "Europe needs to "act independently, not be dependent on external solutions," the Élysée acknowledged. In this context, the government announced on June 19 that it would strengthen the state's stake in Eutelsat, the French satellite operator whose low-Earth orbit constellation is, for now, the only viable European alternative to Starlink. To achieve this, France's State Participation Agency (APE, the government's shareholdings agency) will take a major share in Eutelsat's €1.35 billion capital increase; the APE alone will contribute €717 million. At the same time, it will purchase the 13.6% stake currently held by Bpifrance, bringing its total holding to 29.9% – just below the threshold that would trigger a mandatory takeover bid for the entire company.
