European Union finance ministers asked the EU executive today to prepare a study on a voluntary tax on airline tickets in the 25-nation bloc to help finance development aid for Africa.
This is the second request from the finance ministers for such a study from the commission as the EU executive defied the first request last week because of opposition from at least 10 commissioners.
The voluntary levy on airline tickets has drawn criticism of Austria, The Netherlands and holiday destinations Italy and Greece as well as airlines even when finance ministers agreed on May 14th that it would only be voluntary.
There was no concrete date set for the new study, a commission spokeswoman said. "The Luxembourg presidency and the council of ministers gave the commission another mandate to prepare an analytical study on how such a voluntary tax could be implemented on an-EU wide basis," she said.
The tax is linked to Britain's hopes of putting together a substantial package of increased development aid during its presidency of the Group of Eight nations ahead of a UN summit in September on eradicating poverty.
An air-travel tax was to be an extra source of aid funding on top of regular development assistance from national budgets. It would have helped fund the International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm) - a body set up by donor countries that would issue bonds to raise cash to buy vaccines.
The IFFIm is seen as a pilot project for a broader development fund raising scheme, proposed by British Finance Minister Gordon Brown, which could help double aid to $100 billion annually through issuing debt.
But financing for the repayment of the bonds is a problem as some countries are worried it would further weigh down their already bloated budget deficits.