The news that the Labour government has announced that it will be starting the process of reimbursing those 40,000-plus citizens who had paid VAT on the registration tax on their new cars, was confirmation enough of the determination to honour a major electoral promise. It was also, however, a timely call for this unfair tax to be removed once and for all at pan-European level.

I have purposely brought the matter up at the European Parliament through a parliamentary question I put to the European Commission, asking for updates and clarifications regarding the Commission’s work so far in connection with the car registration tax in its European dimension.

There is no beating about the bush on this issue. My formal request to the European Commission insists on details of the work carried out so far and what is being done at present to finally and officially eliminate this major obstacle to the citizen when he or she buys a new car, is based on the Maltese experience. Just a few months ago, we had a government that insisted the tax was neither illegal nor unfair, and it was the present Prime Minister, Joseph Muscat, when still in Opposition, who took the bull by the horns and launched a massive campaign aimed at having the Labour Party representing, as it had successfully been trusted to do, those thousands of victimised citizens in a Court of Law to contest the payment of VAT on the registration tax.

In my PQ to the Commission, I referred to the European Commission report of 2010 on European citizenship on the removal of all obstacles to the rights of citizens everywhere within the Union. I am sure it is of the utmost importance for most citizens to learn what initiatives are being taken to effectively have all these obstacles removed in the shortest time possible.

After all, it was the Commission itself that had identified the problems associated with car registration as one of several examples of obstacles ruining the lives of European citizens when they exercise their everyday rights according to European law. The Commission had in fact committed itself to making sure the procedures and conditions of car registration in all the member states were simplified. Four years on, I have chosen to point out this has not yet happened.

While in Malta, we finally have a government that is acutely conscious of the need to remove this unfair tax, others at European level seem to be dragging their feet, to the obvious detriment of European citizens everywhere. I intend to keep this issue high up on the European Parliamentary agenda. Maltese and Gozitan, citizens of Europe, understandably need the reassurance that, in accordance with the relevant EU regulations when they hopefully come into effect, no future government would ever be tempted to reintroduce the car registration tax.

It is unfortunate that despite the progress achieved in the process of integration into a single market, the problems with car registration continue to persist. Citizens and businesses still face procedural and financial hurdles within this same market. We have promised them action and that is what they deserve to get.

Malta has set things in motion. It’s time now for Europe and the European Commission to follow it up and bring its commitment to completion.

Joseph Cuschieri is a Labour MEP

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