5. Notes that besides ensuring compliance with the sustainable fiscal policies, in order to achieve economic balance it is necessary to implement growth-conducive measures such as fighting tax fraud and evasion, shifting taxation towards more growth-friendly tax areas and providing viable tax stimulus for both self-employed persons and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), especially with the aim of promoting innovation and R&D activities;

(k)‘support scheme’ means any instrument, scheme or mechanism applied by a Member State or a group of Member States, that promotes the use of energy from renewable sources by reducing the cost of that energy, increasing the price at which it can be sold, or increasing, by means of a renewable energy obligation or otherwise, the volume of such energy purchased. This includes, but is not restricted to, investment aid, tax exemptions or reductions, tax refunds, renewable energy obligation support schemes including those using green certificates, and direct price support schemes including feed-in tariffs and premium payments.

‘support scheme’ means any instrument, scheme or mechanism applied by a Member State or a group of Member States, that promotes the use of energy from renewable sources by reducing the cost of that energy, increasing the price at which it can be sold, or increasing, by means of a renewable energy obligation or otherwise, the volume of such energy purchased. This includes, but is not restricted to, investment aid, tax exemptions or reductions, tax refunds, renewable energy obligation support schemes including those using green certificates, and direct price support schemes including feed-in tariffs and premium payments.

This also resulted from the constatation that the Azores tax reduction did not concern a system by which all local authorities in Portugal were allowed to set the rates of local taxes, but was rather an ad-hoc measure by which only the Azores could reduce the company tax rate set by the central Government by 30% so that the actual amount of the tax reduction was not decided by the Azorese but by the central Government.

There is no fiscal, social or environmental justification for the huge tax breaks diesel fuel currently enjoys.

* contribute to a durable reduction in the overall tax burden in the EU, by ensuring that a balance between cutting taxes, investing in public services and sustaining fiscal consolidation is preserved.