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Traffic Stops Over Gas Prices
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"I want to ask the question to our European partners: If oil continues to increase, should we not suspend the VAT taxation on the price of oil?" Sarkozy said in a radio interview. The VAT is the value added tax, paid by consumers when they buy things.
Such a suspension would require approval from each of the 27 E.U. member states and, so far, has not been formally proposed. In the meantime, several European ministers Tuesday urged direct aid for the fishing industry and other workers affected by the soaring prices.
French fishermen have been demonstrating for two weeks against diesel prices that have recently jumped 30 percent. On Tuesday, French riot police pushed fishermen away from an oil depot at Fos-sur-Mer near Marseille in southern France.
Fishermen from Spain, Italy and Portugal attending an international fishing industry meeting in Italy voted to join the French strike, starting Friday.
In Britain, officials had previously announced that an April 1 tax increase of about 15 cents a gallon, which had been programmed into this year's budget, would be postponed until October because of rising oil prices.
But truckers and business leaders are demanding that the government scrap the tax increase altogether.
Moore reported from Paris. Special correspondent Karla Adam in London contributed to this report.
