Emmanuel Macron gave an interview to franceinfo, RFI and France 24 on Friday June 23, as part of the summit for a new global financial pact.
The President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron called for the creation of a “international tax” to finance the fight against poverty and climate change during his interview on Friday June 23 on franceinfo, RFI and France 24, as part of the summit for a new global financial pact. The “true from the false” comes back to two statements by the Head of State.
1Is France the only country to tax plane tickets?
According to Emmanuel Macron, taxes taken at the level of a single country do not work. He regretted the sometimes loneliness of France in the application of certain taxes: “We are told that we need a tax on plane tickets, there has been a report. We do it in France! Who else does it? It doesn’t work when we do it alone”, did he declare. But is France the only country to tax plane tickets?
No it is wrong. The president refers to the solidarity tax on plane tickets, also called the “Chirac tax”, created by France in 2006, not to fight against global warming, but to help finance health in developing countries. development. The sums collected through this tax are entirely donated to Unitaid, a UN agency. After France, eight other countries have decided to apply it, according to Me Stéphane Monod, lawyer specializing in air law: Cameroon, Chile, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Niger and Korea. from South.
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In addition, the specialist tells franceinfo that five other countries have adopted similar taxes to finance development aid via international organizations: Germany, Austria, Norway, the United Kingdom and Sweden. This therefore rises to 14, in total, the number of countries to apply this kind of tax on airline tickets. 14 out of more than 190 countries worldwide. We can recognize Emmanuel Macron that “countries do not jostle at the gate” to adopt this tax, to use Stéphane Monod’s expression.
2 Do the condemnations for climate inaction only concern the years 2015-2018?
Emmanuel Macron also welcomed the progress in the fight against global warming. “We are making efforts in France and elsewhere, we recognize that since climate inaction was valid for France over the period 2015-2018. Since then, we have not been condemned for climate inaction”he said.
The president’s statements are true but misleading. Emmanuel Macron was referring to the two condemnations of France for not having reduced its greenhouse gas emissions enough and not being on track to meet its commitments made in the Paris Agreement on the climate. One was pronounced by the Administrative Court of Paris in what has been called “The Affair of the Century” and the other by the Council of State in a procedure initiated by the municipality of Grande-Synthe which considers itself threatened by rising waters. These two convictions were pronounced in 2021 and indeed both mainly concern the period from 2015 to 2018, as stated by the Head of State, who came to power in May 2017.
Except that, in its decision, the Council of State had also included negative observations on the following years, in 2019 and 2020. It had asked the government to review its copy and to give guarantees that it would respect its commitments.
Two years later, even if France has not been condemned again, the government’s action for the climate is still judged “insufficient” by the High Council for the Climate as by the Council of State. In a new decision, taken in May 2023, he orders the government to do better for the planet. Admittedly, this is not a condemnation, but it is all the same an injunction made by justice.