Negotiations on the revision of the Eurovignette Directive on charging heavy goods vehicles for the use of certain infrastructures have resumed in the EU Council under the leadership of the German Presidency, the fourth Presidency to take up this dossier.
The EU Council’s Working Party on Land Transport discussed a first draft German compromise on Friday 6 November, almost 5 months after the last meeting of Member States’ ambassadors on the subject (see EUROPE 12509/19).
By Tuesday 17 November, a second draft, which is currently being prepared, should also be submitted to national delegations. According to a recent note from the EU Council, the main part of the meeting of the Working Party on Land Transport, scheduled for that date, will be devoted to the study of this second text.
For the time being, Berlin has made only minor changes to the fourth and latest proposal put forward by the Croatian Presidency (see EUROPE 12502/2).
Exemptions, reductions and surcharges
This first German draft compromise - a copy of which has been obtained by EUROPE - first of all introduces the possibility of granting reductions, or even exemptions, from tolls or user charges for the carriage of goods by vehicles of more than 3.5 tonnes and not more than 7.5 tonnes, for the owner of a company or a driver and not for third parties.
This possibility to grant reductions or exemptions also concerned ‘zero emission’ vehicles (ZEVs) with a maximum laden mass of between 3.5 and 4.25 tonnes. The German Presidency is proposing that this should be possible for all ZEVs with a maximum laden mass of up to 4.25 tonnes.
Another amendment also aims to establish that two or more States wishing to apply, on the same corridor of the core network, a mark-up of more than 25% of the infrastructure charge may not do so without the prior agreement of all the States concerned by this mark-up, “namely neighbouring countries”, the Presidency points out. This increase is also limited to 50%, as provided for in the previous texts.
The paragraph detailing the conditions under which States may decide to waive tolls or user charges for heavy goods vehicles under 12 tonnes has also been slightly amended to make it clear that States may choose between the two taxes to such vehicles and apply only one or the other.
Finally, another small change is intended to ensure that any vehicle - and not just low-emission vehicles - used without emitting emissions “in a verifiable manner” on certain road sections will be eligible for reduced charges corresponding to emission class 5. In other words, as the Presidency summarises, it “can be treated like a ‘zero emission’ vehicle”.
Trilogue negotiations
Anna Deparnay-Grunenberg (Greens/EFA, Germany), who is responsible for this dossier in the European Parliament, told EUROPE: “I welcome that work in the EU Council is finally picking up speed so that we can hopefully start trilogue negotiations as soon as possible”. Parliament, she said, had been “ready to negotiate for 2 years now” (see EUROPE 12125/2).
According to a European source, a political agreement in principle at the Transport Council on 8 December - as Berlin hopes (see EUROPE 12592/19) - should not be ruled out. But the negotiations that would subsequently be opened between Parliament and the EU Council look set to be just as difficult, as the positions of the two institutions are now so far apart.
“While I cannot comment on the ongoing deliberations in the EU Council, it is clear that any reform will have to respect the polluter-pays and the user-pays principle”, concludes Anna Deparnay-Grunenberg, arguing that “this is the only way we can ensure fairness and reduce pollution and carbon emissions from road transport in line with the European Green Deal and our goal of climate neutrality by 2050”. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)