A letter of formal notice was sent yesterday (2 October), the Commission announced, adding that this was but the first formal step in an infringement procedure that could see Slovenia referred to the European Court of Justice unless it amends its law.
At issue is the fact that all passenger cars and motorcycles wishing to use the Slovenian motorway network must buy a special vignette, which is only available on an annual or half-yearly basis.
This means foreign nationals or foreign residents who only use the country’s motorways occasionally face a "disproportionate charge" compared to nationals and Slovenian residents, stresses the Commission. Its move follows complaints from EU tourist organisations in Germany and Austria.
European law prohibits any kind of discrimination on the grounds of nationality. This includes unequal treatment, which is not explicitly tied to nationality but which, by the application of other differentiation criteria, in fact leads to the same result, the Commission insists.
But Slovenian Junior Transport Minister Peter Verlič insisted that there was "no direct or indirect discrimination, since both domestic and foreign users have equal possibilities to use the vignettes," according to AFP.
He added that his government's position would remain unchanged unless it received some "additional arguments".
What's more, he pointed to the benefits of the road tax system, which had "brought exactly what the government expected: better flow on the highways, less waiting at tolls and a reduction of transit on local roads".
The Commission has recently intensified its efforts to address rising congestion on European roads, which is estimated to cost close to €100 billion per year in terms of lost productivity, while at the same time leading to fuel wastage, increased air pollution and reduced public transit efficiency.
A package on 'Greening Transport', presented in July, seeks to extend the scope of an existing EU road toll law to allow governments to charge trucks for the environmental costs they impose on society.
While passenger cars and motorcycles are currently not covered by the EU legal framework, the Commission has recognised that levying congestion charges on busy roads "would reduce congestion but would also significantly reduce both pollution and CO2 emissions, particularly if similar charges are applied to cars as well".
The EU executive nevertheless refrains from including cars in its proposed Directive on road infrastructure charging, although it does promise to review the legislation before 2014 to see whether it should be extended to more categories of vehicles than trucks.
