Brussels, 21/01/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, the committee on transport of the European Parliament decided to postpone until 11 February the first-reading vote on the report by Saïd El Khadraoui (PES, Belgium) on the proposed directive on the taxation of heavy goods vehicles (Eurovignette II). This report will allow the MEPs to come together and seek compromise on the most controversial points of proposal, which are: - the list of externalities (whereby the proposal will keep in place the congestion charge proposed by the European Commission and include a charge for greenhouse gas pollution called for by the rapporteur but rejected by the EPP-ED); - the scope of application of the proposed directive (all routes, as called for by the Commission and the rapporteur, or only the trans-European transport network), plus limits for the charges which may be imposed to internalise the external costs of transport. Despite these differences of opinion, the MEPs who took part in the discussion all acknowledged the need to guarantee that the revenue from these charges will be reallocated to the transport sector, not to the budget as called for by some member states (France, Germany). "This reallocation will be indispensable", Saïd El Khadraoui , going on to propose that the revenue from the charges be allocated to bringing down external costs.
The MEPs and representatives of the transport sector had the opportunity to debate the proposed directive, which allows the member states to introduce into their toll systems certain external costs brought about by road transport (noise pollution, pollution and congestion), during the dinner-debate hosted on Tuesday by the French MEP Ari Vatanen (EPP-ED, Finnish elected in France), the president of the association Mobility for Prosperity in Europe. "Far from being the villain of society, as the environmental lobbies often claim, road transport is the choice of the users and brings millions of goods and services to each citizen, increasing the quality of life. This dynamic would be seriously jeopardised if road transport was penalised with an additional tax, when it already pays society for its external costs through multiple taxes", said Mr Vatanen, who is clearly opposed to the proposed directive. He added that bringing in new charges would lead only to transport costs being passed on to consumers, without even guaranteeing greater mobility. "Mobility leads to prosperity- we must try to improve it, rather than penalise it", he said.
The revised proposed "Eurovignette" directive, which was put forward by the Commission last July (see EUROPE 9699), allows the member states to bring in charges, on a voluntary basis, upon heavy goods vehicles of more than 3.5 tonnes, not just for using the infrastructure (as is currently the case), but also to cover costs related to air pollution, noise nuisances and congestion. This directive, which is considered to be of greater advantage to the rail sector, as it would allow it the right to increase its overall level of revenue (directive 2001/14, which allows charges to be levied for the use of railway infrastructure, also allows additional charges for environmental costs, revenue from which will not be reallocated, as long as a comparable tariff is applied to competing modes of transport), has come under fire from the road sector amongst others. (A.By./transl.fl)