Brussels, 02/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - A petition against the German motorway toll project, containing 43,000 signatures, was presented by a number of MEPs on Tuesday 2 September. During the weekend, Siim Kallas, commissioner in charge of transport, held a meeting with the German minister Alexander Dobrindt, to discuss this project, which the country's Dutch neighbours consider discriminatory.
It was the Dutch section of the Fédération internationale des automobilistes (FIA) that organised this petition to protest against the German plans. Dutch drivers are afraid that the toll project announced last July would allow Germany to fund its road infrastructure on the backs of foreign drivers. As it currently stands, the system would consist of a vignette that all drivers using German roads would require. German drivers would, however, be able to claim the money spent on it back in tax.
The petition was handed in by MEPs Wim van de Camp (EPP, Netherlands), Claudia Schmidt (EPP, Austria), Georges Bach (EPP, Luxembourg), Pascal Arimont (EPP, Belgium) and Jeroen Lenaers (EPP, Netherlands) in an effort to ensure that the German project respects European principles of non-discrimination (as stipulated in the European Union's guidelines). Thanking them for the petition, the president of the FIA Region, Thierry Willemarck, warned that if the toll system is put in place, other countries could introduce reprisals, “this could eventually mean that we will all be charged as soon as we cross a border, blocking the ease with which the Europeans can move in the EU”.
During the summer, the German authorities, which still have to provide a better definition of their toll project, held meetings with European Commission services. The latter will have to ensure that the system is not discriminatory. Kallas also met with the German minister for transport last weekend and discussed the issue of the vignette as well as other questions. (MD)