Brussels, 28/08/2014 (Agence Europe) - A petition against a German plan to introduce a toll for cars, rather than just lorries, has already received more than 45,000 Dutch signatures.
At the beginning of July, the German Department of Transport introduced a legislative proposal seeking to generate €600 million a year to fund road infrastructure in the country (see EUROPE 11117). Dutch car users, however, fear that the money generated will be at the expense of car users in other neighbouring countries and that they will be penalised more than German car drivers. The Dutch member of the Fédération internationale de l'automobile (FIA) launched a petition to protest against the cost of this toll, which will be higher for tourists than for German drivers. The petition has already received tens of thousands of signatures and will be handed in to Wim van de Camp MEP (EPP, Netherlands) on 2 September, so that he can involve the European Parliament on the subject of the discriminatory impact the German measure could have.
It is precisely the question of discrimination on the basis of nationality that the European Commission is currently examining. European Commissioner for Transport Siim Kallas has said that the German project may be acceptable if it is does not prove discriminatory. (MD)