Then there's a strong recommendation for the carbon tax on wealthy countries, not really defining which ones they would be, then carbon dioxide omissions, or equivalent mechanisms, and a global currency transition tax and a global financial transitions tax.

4. Reiterates its support for the objective of Russia's accession to the WTO, which will create a level playing field for the business communities on both sides and greatly help Russian efforts to build a modern, diversified, high-technology economy; calls on Russia to take the necessary steps to remove the remaining obstacles to the accession process, namely Russian export duties, the level of railway fees for goods in transit through Russia, road charges on goods vehicles and the restrictions on imports of meat, milk and plant prod ...[+++]ucts, following which the EU should open discussions on a free-trade agreement with the Russian Federation; looks forward to the implementation of more effective policies on several outstanding issues, such as intellectual property rights, radioactive waste, nuclear safety, work permits for EU citizens, etc.; stresses the need for the Russian authorities to ensure that no discriminatory practices whatsoever are employed vis-à-vis EU trading partners and investors and to reconsider the measures taken to tackle the economic crisis, in accordance with the undertaking given at the recent G20 Summit; deplores the fact that Russia is still not honouring its commitment to phase out Siberian overflight payments and calls on Russia to sign the agreement reached on this issue at the summit in Samara in 2007; welcomes, in this context, the recent decision by Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan to abandon their attempt to join the WTO as a single customs union, which could have added years to the negotiations;

On the abolition of tax-free shops at land borders, which is another sensitive issue, I want to remind you that the origin of this approach dates back to as early as 1960, when the WCO, the World Customs Organisation, recommended the abolition of land-border tax-free shops, and I also want to remind you that in 2002, when the accession talks with 10 new countries were completed, countries like Slovenia, Hungary and some others were forced to abolish their land-based tax-free shops; so I think that the proposed solution, which provides a very long transitional period for Greece and for Romania, is quite fair in comparison to ...[+++]the stand taken with regard to the former new countries.

The Commission's view is that this is an unacceptable charge for transit.

The first lesson is that you must not make people queue at a customs office or outside one to pay transit tax.

This will mean substantially lower average transit fees than those set by the Hungarian authorities last December because many more free transit permits will be available and the authorizations for which a charge is payable will cost less.