EU beschließt 'grünere' Gebührenerhebung für Lkw [en] 

The Eurovignette directive was tabled in 2003 to define a harmonised EU framework for charge heavy goods vehicles for their use of EU motorways. The main objective is to ensure road usage better reflects its true impact on society and the environment by introducing a "user pays" and "polluter pays" principle. It also aims to shift freight away from roads onto other modes of transport such as rail and waterways.

The Eurovignette proposal has stirred controversy since the beginning, opposing member states at the periphery of main freight routes (Portugal, Estonia, Malta) and those where transit is high and who suffer most from the congestion and pollution that comes with large amounts of traffic (Austria, France, Germany).

The European Parliament on 15 December gave its green light to a directive which aims to harmonise the way truck tolls are levied on EU roads and motorways. The bill is expected to receive quick final approval from EU ministers since the version voted on by Parliament had previously been negotiated in an "informal trialog" with the Commission and the Council. 

Called "Eurovignette", the directive seeks to better reflect the growing impact of road freight on the environment and society at large. After heated discussions, it was finally agreed that these 'external costs' can include congestion costs, environmental costs, noise, landscape damage, social costs such as health and indirect accident costs which are not covered by insurance. To be internalised, the costs have to be proved "undeniable".

The Commission ended a dispute between Parliament and Council on how precisely to integrate such costs in toll prices by promising to come forward with a calculation method two years after the directive comes into force. This proposal will again need approval from the two EU legislative bodies.

As of 2012, Eurovignette will apply to vehicles of 3.5 tonnes or more, a significantly lower threshold compared to the previous version of the directive (dated 1999), which only applied to vehicles of more than 12 tonnes. However, the compromise allows room for derogations under strict conditions.

Member states are also given extra flexibility on how to levy tolls or charges. In particular, these can now be raised on the entire road network, not just motorways, when they are part of the Trans-European Network (TEN):

• toll revenue should be used for the maintenance of the road infrastructure concerned or to cross-finance the transport sector as a whole
• as of 2010, countries which already apply tolls or user charges will be obliged to vary their prices according to vehicle pollution standards (Euro standards series) in order to favour the cleanest ones 
• authorities may decide to exempt isolated areas or economically weak regions from applying tolls or user charges 
• an extra 15% 'mark-up' charge can be levied to finance new alternative transport infrastructure projects such as rail or inland waterways (the mark-up can be raised to 25% for cross-frontier projects in mountainous regions)
• urban areas are finally not included in these extra mark-up charges. However, local authorities can still be raise them under a provision taken from article 9 of the current Eurovignette directive (which for instance allowed the city of London to apply such charges)
• rebates will be possible for frequent users

The Commission reacted positively to the vote, saying the adopted Eurovignette directive will allow "fairer pricing of transport infrastructure". The possibility for member states to introduce pricing variations, commented transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot, "is a first step towards taking better account of external costs".

The International Road Transport Union (IRU) lashed out at the agreement, saying Eurovignette will effectively bleed road hauliers dry or toll them "to the bone" as they put it. The IRU's main criticism is that money raised is not fully reserved for the road sector. "Every year, road users pay €330 bn to governments through taxes, yet public spending on roads amounts to only €100 bn," the IRU points out. The other main criticism is that member sates cannot compensate road haulers for the extra financial burden with reductions on other levies such as vehicle tax or fuel duties. "Unprecedented high fuel prices have stretched the sector's resources to the limit," the IRU claims.

The Community of European Railways (CER) was not satisfied with the Parliament's vote, saying it "has chosen a quick compromise rather than a good one". CER says the decision is in contradiction with the 'user pays' principle as "it will not be possible for tolls to reflect all costs, in particular external costs such as congestion, air pollution and accidents". CER's Executive Director Johannes Ludewig points to a recent study by McKinsey which predicts that rail freight volumes in Western Europe will fall by 30 to 40% in the medium term under existing policies. "The prospects for a development of rail freight across Europe are alarming," said Ludewig.

Gilles Savary MEP (PES, France), the vice-president of Parliament's transport committee, welcomed the agreement on cost internalisation as "a significant parliamentary conquest against resistance from the powerful road lobby and countries at the [EU's] periphery". The compromise, he added, also represents "welcome legal certainty" for freight businesses. 

However, Savary regretted that the bill's implementation is left to "the good will of member states governments". The French socialist MEP called for further measures to provide the EU with its own budgetary means to finance transport policies, suggesting that part of the truck levies be allocated to trans-European networks. 

The Green Group said the Parliament has "missed a big chance" to make Europe's transport policy "really sustainable". "The price for health damage, environmental damages or accidents will still have to be carried out by the public and this also means the further unacceptable promotion of the ever growing truck avalanche," said Eva Lichtenberger (Austria) und Michael Cramer (Germany).

T&E, the European Federation for Transport and the Environment, said the deal only delays action to include the health and environmental costs in freight pricing. T&E's Markus Liechti points to OECD and other studies to assert: "EU citizens will continue to pick up a €170 billion bill every year that we wait for a new Commission proposal and yet another agreement."