The EU’s environmental commissioner today gave Sweden’s government a big boot because it plans to abolish or greatly reduce the tax on plastic bags. – Plastic bags are a thing of the past and Sweden should find tools for this that are not counterproductive, says Virginijus Sinkevicius, the EU’s Environment Commissioner. Today, the EU’s environment ministers gathered at a meeting in Arlandastad with the aim of speeding up the green transition. Many ministers spoke positively about Sweden’s hosting and were hopeful about the meeting. But from the EU’s commissioner, there was also criticism that Sweden in the spring budget proposes that the plastic bag tax be abolished or greatly reduced from the first of January next year. “I think the Swedish people want clean forests” – We should make sure that plastic bags are used less and less. And I think the Swedish people want clean forests and clean beaches – not for them to be littered with plastic bags that are used for a few minutes and then remain for thousands of years, says Virginijus Sinkevicius. As a member of the EU, Sweden has the full right to decide on our own tax levels. But low taxes can mean a lot of plastic bags and that can be expensive. For every kilo of plastic bags sold, the member state must pay 0.8 euros to the EU’s central budget. For Sweden, it could be over half a billion extra euros to the EU per year.
t4-general