Environmental taxation of heavy goods vehicles raises reservations

摘要

"Divided". This is how one expert described the debate on the revision of the Eurovignette Directive (1999/62/EC), which brought together the EU's transport ministers on the occasion of an informal Transport Council in La Rochelle (France) on 1 September. There is certainly a consensus to continue the revision - the French EU Presidency will try to reach a political agreement in December - but several delegations have moved away from certain key points of the proposal presented by the European Commission on 8 July According to this expert, Spain is the country which has most decidedly expressed the idea that this reform does not come at a good time as fuel prices have skyrocketed in recent months. To recall, the proposal under examination aims to allow member states to put in place toll roads aimed at making heavy-goods vehicles pay the costs linked to pollution, noise and road congestion. Even though the Commission defends wanting to 'tax' road hauliers, the sector believes that this reform could have serious financial consequences for hauliers. Hence the concern (principally) from outlying countries. In La Rochelle, EU Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani defended wanting to penalise road transport: modulated tolls according to peaks in traffic, as the proposal sets out, should spread traffic more evenly and therefore reduce fuel consumption, he explained.