Tax deadline

Today is the deadline by which the Maltese government has to inform Brussels on how it will do away with the VAT on vehicle registration tax.

The European Commission gave a final notice to the government to remove this "tax on tax" after I submitted a complaint on this issue.

The practice by means of which the Maltese authorities charge 18 per cent VAT over and above the hefty vehicle registration tax is in clear breach of European Union rules, as explained in De Danske Bilimporterer ruling by the European Court of Justice.

One hopes that the changes in the system are announced before any formal action is taken by the Commission.

Furthermore, it would also be appropriate for the government to take this opportunity to announce the pledged rehaul in the whole system.

A few days ago, Al Gore equated all those conservative establishment forces doubting that global warming is man-made to those who used to believe that the world is flat.

The way letters find their way into your letter box might be heading for a major change. Last January, the European Parliament endorsed the draft directive on the liberalisation of postal services in the EU. The scope of this directive is to challenge the current monopolies found in member states. The major concern of trade unions and employees to the initial direction taken by the Commission was that this liberalisation will lead to a reduction in workers' conditions and increase in redundancies. It was also going to lead to a reduction in service to smaller communities living in remote areas due to lack of profitability. This debate has taken 20 years and the last draft has tried to cater for these concerns.

The European Parliament played a decisive role in further developing the Commission's original proposal. The directive, as it currently stands, has addressed the issue of the timeframe for implementing the directive, which now extends to 2013 rather than 2009, uncertainty associated with protecting workers' terms and conditions of employment as well as the need to offer a universal service, which has become an obligation.

The Chinese campaign on Tibet has taken an interesting development. The Chinese are now adopting a media campaign to neutralise another media campaign. In blogs, chat-rooms, bulletin boards and by SMS, Chinese citizens are assaulting the international press, exposing mistakes and depicting what they perceive as foreign manipulation.

One hopes that the matter will not lie to rest once the Olympic Games are over.

Dr Muscat is a Labour member of the European Parliament and vice president of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee.

www.josephmuscat.com