The eugh’s ruling against the german freeway toll once again raises the question of a uniform eU toll. A chronicle by herbert vytiska.
The eugh decided yesterday, 18. June, against the introduction of the German toll on cars using the autobahns. Austria is pleased about this: “The judges of the eugh have declared the German car toll to be discriminatory and have thus fortunately created clarity,” says transport minister andreas reichhardt.
In its view, the ruling is a “clear signal for fairness and a common internal market”. In the judgment (Case C-591/17), the court found in its core that the infrastructure charge, in combination with the motor vehicle tax relief in germany, constituted indirect discrimination on grounds of nationality and violated the principles of free movement of goods and freedom to provide services.
For german transport minister andreas scheuer (CSU), on the other hand, the court’s decision is “regrettable” and “surprising,” also because the attorney general had “proved the transport ministry right on all points” about the toll project. In addition, the eU commission would have accepted the plans to introduce the toll on cars. Alexander dobrindt, who as secretary general of the CSU had made the introduction of the toll an election campaign issue as recently as 2013, does not really understand the eugh and believes that “double standards are being applied here”. They accept the ruling, but they do not want to resign themselves to it. Scheuer therefore immediately set up a task force to draw conclusions from the ruling and examine possible new approaches.
German freeway toll: austria goes to the european Court of Justice
austria today submits complaint against german freeway toll to european court of justice
The eugh becomes an airbag for motorists
The CSU in particular, which is now generally in the crossfire of criticism, is receiving support from a major Austrian company. Georg kapsch, head of the austrian industrial association, criticizes austria’s decision at the time to take legal action against the german toll plans. It was "complete nonsense" to file a lawsuit and he says: "The success for Austria itself is zero. What good does that do us if they [the Germans, anm.] should not be allowed to do this?" the reason for kapsch’s excitement is obvious. His trafficcom had been awarded the contract to manage the German toll system in a 50-50 joint venture with CTS eventim at the end of 2018. An order with a volume of around 1.6 billion. Euro that would have run for 10 to 15 years.
Austrian members of the EU parliament applaud the decision. Thus, the head of the oVP delegation, othmar karas, explains: "with the ruling, the luxembourg judges confirm that the planned german car toll is a clear indirect discrimination against EU citizens on the basis of their citizenship – as we have said from the start. We are relieved that the court has not set the dangerous precedent for member states’ approach to the prohibition of discrimination that some had hoped for.". And the new SPo parliamentary group leader andreas schieder seconds: "the eugh is becoming an airbag for european motorists. For the principle must apply that equal rights apply to all who use the roads, regardless of the license plate".
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EU parliamentarian Barbara Thaler, responsible for transport policy, goes one step further: “we are basically in favor of an EU toll system that is as uniform as possible”. This could therefore become a topic for the new commission. In fact, across europe we have several different toll systems. All previous attempts, as recently as last fall, have failed. On the one hand, because in many cases the toll revenues are used by the states to plug budget gaps and no one really wants to do without these revenues. On the other hand, in connection with the climate protection goals, there is also an overlapping of the toll discussion, in that a reform of the transport policy is generally considered to be the actual goal.
Further information
Tolls and deportations fuel EU criticism in Austria
Austria is being snubbed this week over two european issues of very different nature: a case against the german car toll at the eugh and the possible tightening of the right to deport asylum seekers. Is the current EU law unfair?