Estonia could sue European Commission over sugar fine

Äripäev
15.29 hours

Estonian prime minister said today that Estonia could dispute the sugar tax to be imposed by the European Commission in European Court.

Parts said today at a Q&A session that he does not rule out the possibility of disputing the sugar tax in court.

"I would not rule out the disputing of certain elements of the would-be sugar fine in the European Court," said Parts.

"We need to consider that Estonia is almost the only member state in the EU that is not a sugar producer," he said.

According to the government, the majority of excess sugar was purchased by end-consumers and was not imported for speculative purposes. Therefore, it should not be subject to punitive tax.

This position is in contrast with the view of the Estonian minister of agriculture Ester Tuiksoo who said after meeting with European commissioner for agriculture that it would be difficult for Estonia to escape the sugar fine.

Tuiksoo said that Estonia was trying to convince the European Commission that the import of sugar into Estonia went up before Estonia’s accession to the European Union in May because of sugar buying panic among Estonians.

Estonian ministry of agriculture has earlier forecast that the European Commission may fine Estonia with up to EEK 800 million for excess sugar import that went up by more than 90,000 tons in a year before accession.

Source: BBN