Brussels, 28/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - Whilst wishing to avoid any kind of “micro-management”, Siim Kallas, the outgoing European Commissioner for Transport, has said that the German motorway tollbooth project is going in the right direction.
Tax discrimination? With a few days to go until he is replaced by Violeta Bulc, Kallas was eager to put things straight, after having held several meetings with the German authorities, including the transport department, on the subject of this draft legislation. Over the next few days, the German government is expected to formulate a clear proposal to introduce a vignette system in 2016 for car users using the German motorways. The estimated profits of €2.5 billion a year would be used to fund the country's road network. Nonetheless, the operation is not going to mean German residents having to open their wallets because the price of the vignette will be compensated for in reduced taxes. Will there therefore be a danger of discrimination against foreign car users, as some (including Dutch car users) have claimed?
Right direction. There will be nothing of the sort, according to the European Commissioner, who first and foremost believes that road users must pay for what they use in a period in which many member states are suffering from “chronic underinvestment” (Germany needs €5 billion for network maintenance). Nonetheless, the outgoing Commissioner believes that equal treatment is a “nonnegotiable” principle. His dealings with the German authorities have reassured him on this aspect and he says that he is very pleased that, “the German side is serious about developing a concept that meets our concerns, in particular as regards non-discrimination. The ideas presented go in the right direction.”
Micro-management. Nonetheless, Kallas is eager to respect subsidiarity and has reaffirmed that it is primarily up to member states to decide how they tax cars or not. This is not therefore a case of “micro-managing” tax or transport policy in Germany, explained the Commissioner, who said, however, that the Commission had to remain vigilant to ensure that an initiative of this scale respected European legislation. (MD)