An option I would prefer would be to put a direct emissions tax on motor vehicle use.

For example, our vehicles have a requirement for daytime running lights to deal with lower lighting levels in the winter, our speedometers need to measure vehicle speed in kilometres, and the mechanism to attach child restraints to the vehicle is stronger than required in most other countries except in the U.S. Canadian vehicle safety standards are designed to minimize, to the extent reasonably possible, the risk of death, injury or collision resulting from vehi ...[+++]cles and their use.

A future in which current levels of automobile use are simply replicated by electric vehicles is, however, undesirable on economic grounds.

the tanks permanently fixed by, the manufacturer to all motor vehicles of the same type as the vehicle in question and whose permanent fitting enables fuel to be used directly, both for the purpose of propulsion and, where appropriate, for the operation, during transport, of refrigeration systems and other systems.

Reducing the large differences in taxation applying to the acquisition, ownership and use of cars would enhance the ability of the car industry - and European consumers - to reap the benefits of operating within a single market.

The two Members of the Commission referred in particular to: - the Commission's communication of 4 November 1992 on industrial competitiveness and environmental protection, endorsed by the Council resolution of 3 December 1992, - the Commission's communication of 23 February 1994 on the European Union automobile industry, following which the Council, in its resolution of 22 April 1994, emphasized the need to further reduce the environmental problems related to the use of automobiles, - the Commission's work on the management of priority waste streams.