While John McCain's idea of a gas tax holiday was a hit in the U.S. (well, it was a hit with him and Hillary Clinton, anyway), the European Commission is saying no in all sorts of languages to the possibility of the EU capping the value-added tax on fuel. Automotive News Europe reports that the EC shot down a proposal by French president Nicolas Sarkozy to cap the tax by saying any such move was the wrong response to high oil prices and would require unanimous agreement anyway. Sarkozy didn't specify how high he thought oil prices should go before the tax cap kicked in, but it doesn't look like he even needs to bother. The EC's stand is that, "changing taxation on fuels in order to combat increasing prices would send the wrong message to producing countries. This would show them that they could increase prices, and citizens would have to pay for this. So that's really the wrong message," Commission energy spokesman Ferran Tarradellas told ANE. Funny, that's not the message we heard when McCain and Clinton were all 'bout the gas tax holiday.

[Source: Automotive News Europe]

The conservative Mayor of Colmar, France, Mr. Gilber Meyer, has decided to give a hand to households so they spend less money in gasoline. How? He's giving away €100 per household to purchase a bicycle. His deputy for urbanism and security, Yves Hemedinger, states "It's well known that one of France's main worries are the high cost of oil and ecology. This measure will help our citizens save money and pollute less for their displacements." Since you can find a bicycle for about €100-120, this is a good deal. Almost a thousand applications have been received so far. The town is also installing new bicycle lanes which will extend the Alsacian town's network up to 67 km. This is quite a radical measure compared to gas tax breaks!

[Source: Libération]