The Croatian Presidency of the EU Council is currently conducting a review as part of the negotiations on the ‘Eurovignette’ directive (see EUROPE 12467/24). The new draft compromise submitted to national experts on Tuesday 19 May - a copy of which was obtained by EUROPE - gives Member States the option of retaining a variable fee system depending on ‘EURO’ emission classes.
Revision of the ‘Eurovignette’ directive on road infrastructure charging (1999/62) was intended to make it possible to abandon the system.
The Finnish Presidency had therefore proposed that Member States should be required to end the variation in fees based on EURO emission classes once the new user charges and infrastructure fees had been adopted.
However, this provision was deleted by the Croatian Presidency in its first draft compromise (see EUROPE 12442/11).
It has been reintroduced in its new draft compromise, however, and, in the preamble, the Presidency has stressed the need to allow Member States to dispense with a system of this type, “which is expected to become obsolete in the medium term”. The constraint has therefore turned into an option: the verb “shall” has been replaced by the verb “may”.
So, according to the new text, all States will continue to rely on the ‘EURO’ emissions classes until the new varied infrastructure fees and user charges are applied. And only those who wish to do so will then be able to dispense with this system.
Reclassification of vehicles. A completely different change, involving the reclassification of some vehicles, has also been made to the text: it places vehicles belonging to emission classes 2 and 3 on an equal footing.
The Presidency proposing that, five years after the date they are first registered, both will have to be reclassified in class 1.
Temporary exemption for ZEVs. The draft compromise also aims to introduce new provisions on reductions and exemptions for zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs).
The previous version of the text included provision for these vehicles to be granted a reduction of up to 75% on their infrastructure fees and user charges. The updated version anticipates that a reduction of this type, limited to 75%, will only apply from 1 January 2026: between the date the directive comes into force and 31 December 2025, ‘zero-emission’ vehicles might benefit from even greater reductions or maybe even exemptions.
Funding the electrical terminals. The Croatian Presidency is also introducing the option for States to introduce charges to fund their electrical facilities.
They would therefore then be able to apply “charges specifically designed to finance the costs related to the construction, operation, maintenance and development” of electric recharging stations - facilities that are popular with car manufacturers (see EUROPE 12461/29).
Negotiations are therefore taking a long time in the Council of the EU, whereas a first reading position was adopted in Parliament in 2018 (see EUROPE 12125/2). (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)