German motorway tax

13.4.2015

Question for written answer E-005827-15
to the Commission
Rule 130
Jens Rohde (ALDE)

On 20 March 2015, the German Bundestag adopted the introduction of a road tax on German motorways starting in 2016. This road tax will be required from everyone driving on German motorways. In order to circumvent Article 18 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, German citizens will also be subject to this road tax. They will subsequently be compensated for every cent of this via lower German vehicle tax.

For Scandinavian motorists, both commercial and private, Germany is the only real transport corridor to the rest of Europe. They will be met by a payment wall here in future. This is a fee for Danes but an opportunity for reimbursement for Germans.

It can only be hoped that the European Court of Justice sees through this de facto discrimination by the Germans, and declares the road tax unlawful. If the ECJ, against expectations, reaches another decision, we fear that other Member States will follow the same example, which is where we, in practice, reach a dissolution of something so basic as the EU’s freedom of movement.

Will the Commission therefore state the conditions under which a Member State may demand motorway tax?

Is the Commission of the opinion that Germany complies with these?

Is the Commission aware of other Member States that are considering the use of reimbursement schemes, e.g. via taxation, to introduce road charges that only actually affect citizens from other nation states?