To launch a so-called ECI (European Citizens’ Initiative), first seven Europeans residing in seven different EU member states must join forces and submit their initiative to the EU Commission. The Commission then examines the content to determine whether it is responsible for issuing the legal basis and whether the initiators have no commercial interests.

Provided there are no objections, the initiative is approved. The seven organizers now have one year to collect at least 1 million signatures in Europe. Thresholds set by the Commission must be reached in at least seven EU member states. In Germany, for example, at least 67,680 signatures must be reached, while in Greece the target is 14,805.

Only if the required number of signatures is reached within a year will the initiative be successful, because then the European Commission will take up the issue and invite the initiators to present their initiative to the Commissioners. In the best case scenario, the EU Commission will then draw up a draft law and take the initiative to introduce it into the EU legislative process.

If GreenVAT, so to speak, becomes EU law, all 27 EU member states are obliged to implement GreenVAT in their national law within a set period of time. This would mean that we would have a green VAT throughout the European Union.

Next to income tax, value added tax is one of the largest sources of income for a state. Every person inevitably comes into contact with it, whether shopping at the supermarket, going to the cinema or paying the craftsman’s bill.

The basic idea is that every sale, no matter how small, should be taxed; value added tax accompanies every product from raw material to finished goods to the consumer’s hand.