Talks on Lower EU VAT Rates Stall Over Fossil Fuels, Exemptions

More time is needed to decide on a new framework for reduced value-added tax rates in the EU, given disagreements over exemptions and when to phase out lower rates for fossil fuels, the bloc’s finance ministers said Friday.

At a summit in Luxembourg, ministers discussed a plan to create a list of goods and services on which reduced VAT would be allowed, while phasing out VAT reductions for environmentally harmful items.

Countries agreed on many aspects of the reform, but remaining issues were “delicate,” Paolo Gentiloni, EU economy commissioner, said at the ministers’ meeting.

The plan, proposed in ...