On Thursday 2 December, MEPs on Parliament’s Transport Committee debated the ‘Eurovignette’ directive, which should lead to the gradual abolition of vignettes for heavy goods vehicles and better reflect the ‘polluter pays’ principle on the basis of distance (see EUROPE 12829/33).
An agreement was reached between the Council of the EU and the Parliament on 15 June (see EUROPE 12742/13). The text still needs to be adopted by Parliament in second reading before being published in the EU Official Journal.
However, things could be a bit different. While Parliament’s rapporteur on the dossier, Giuseppe Ferrandino (S&D, Italy), said it was a “first step” towards more appropriate legislation, others deplored certain shortcomings in the text. “Pragmatism was required; the result is unexpected. There was total anarchy, completely different systems”, said Mr Ferrandino.
For some MEPs, however, like Austrian MEP Barbara Thaler (EPP), pragmatism is not enough. “The current version of the Eurovignette does not achieve any of the objectives. On behalf of the EPP, I will present amendments for fair competition between road and rail, between regional and international carriers. I call on our colleagues to vote ‘no’ in the plenary session in January. We need more time”, she insisted.
The Greens/EFA Group’s view is not very different. "Anna Deparnay-Grunenberg (Greens/EFA, Germany) said that “the interim agreement would not be enough to give a real boost to the transport sector”, deploring the margin of manoeuvre left to the Member States in implementing the text.
Other MEPs, such as Karima Delli (Greens/EFA, France), were also concerned about the discrepancies that the text could create in terms of taxation, in the event of non-harmonised implementation between EU Member States. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)