The European Parliament and the Council of the EU met on Tuesday 15 June to negotiate the future of the ‘Eurovignette’ directive (see EUROPE 12737/15). While negotiators had already agreed on some provisions in technical meetings, political issues continued to divide the co-legislators at the time of writing.
“At the moment, just about everything on the table is still stuck. The situation could be unblocked, but it is impossible to predict”, a source close to the case told EUROPE.
The end of the time-based vignette system remained the main stumbling block. Parliament argued for a distance-based system of obligations for heavy goods vehicles and vans, which it said was more representative of the ‘polluter pays’ principle. The EU Council, for its part, preferred an approach that left the choice to the Member States. On this point, the EU Council conceded a mandatory system, but limited it to heavy goods vehicles only.
The same applies to the system of external cost charges, based on noise and air pollution, which is another hot issue. “The EU Council has put forward the idea of making this compulsory, which is what the Parliament wants, while introducing a very long transition period of between 6 and 10 years”, a source said.
In addition, several blockages remained within the different political groups in the Parliament - notably with the EPP - such as on the application of a CO2 emission charge.
“This last trilogue under the Portuguese Presidency is certainly the last chance. The EU Council is not far from the limit in terms of compromise. But this remains far from the position of the Parliament”, concluded the same source. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)