On Thursday 12 October, Jörg Leichtfried, the Austrian Transport Minister announced that the Austrian government had launched proceedings for failure to fulfil an obligation at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) against Germany. The latter’s introduction of a motorway vignette system is accused of causing indirect discrimination against non-German nationals.
There is nothing new about Austria’s intention to take matters to the ECJ. The Austrian authorities announced this on 31 March last (see EUROPE 11760), after the Bundestag approved a draft motorway vignette, which is not yet, however, in force. The measure to introduce motorway tolls will mainly be paid by vehicles registered abroad and will be offset by possible tax deductions for clean vehicles from which only German drivers will be able to benefit. Austria therefore considers that the measure produces indirect discrimination relating to nationality and is incompatible with article 18 of the Treaty on Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).
It should he pointed out that the Commission launched proceedings for failing to meet obligations on 29 September 2016 (see EUROPE 11635) against the first version of the German project, before it closed proceedings on 1 December that year (see EUROPE 11680), following an agreement negotiated with the German transport minister, Alexander Dobrindt, which Mr Leichtfried described as “scandalous”.
Enrico Brivio, the European Commission Spokesperson for Transport declared during a press conference that the Commission was prepared to provide mediation between the two parties. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)