The European Court of Justice is the highest instance of the Court of Justice of the European Union, whose decisions cannot be appealed. The court includes one representative from each EU member state. The plan to compensate German car owners for the cost of driving on autobahns by reducing the annual vehicle tax is indirect discrimination on grounds of nationality, the court's ruling states.
As "Russkaya Germaniya" notes, when drafting the toll law, Germany's transport ministers — this post in the government has been successively held by representatives of the Christian Social Union — were asked to sit on two chairs. On the one hand, it was necessary to impose a toll on those driving on the autobahn without checking in which country the vehicle was registered; on the other, to favor "their own," fulfilling promises to the electorate from Angela Merkel that no German driver would have to pay more for using a car than now because of the new fee. Thus the idea of tax compensation arose.
For a long time it was assumed that this idea was in no way compatible with the EU's anti-discrimination legislation, but at the end of 2016 there was a sensational turn in the question of introducing the toll: a compromise was reached between Brussels and Berlin, which made it possible to assert with confidence that the toll would be introduced.
Under an agreement with the European Commission, which had previously been preparing to sue Germany over the toll issue, the federal government intended to circumvent the requirements of EU laws on equality through a trick linking compensation to motorists' use of environmentally friendly transport, rather than the need to pay the toll. Those who drive particularly "clean" cars would be able to receive compensation exceeding the actual amount of the toll. Thus, the reduction of the vehicle tax would cease to be a simple compensation, and the toll would move from the category of tax benefits to environmental benefits.
This "play on words" outraged neighboring Austria, whose authorities had strongly opposed the German toll and, ultimately, in October 2017, appealed to the court. The Netherlands joined the lawsuit, while Denmark sided with Germany. The decision now taken by the European Court of Justice is unequivocal: there will be no toll. It was planned to be introduced in Germany in October 2020, with car owners' costs depending on the vehicle's environmental class and engine size ranging from 74 to 130 euros per year.
Why did the German authorities even come to attempt to impose a toll on foreigners for using German roads? In most neighboring countries, a fee for using autobahns and expressways exists in one form or another, but the costs are borne by everyone — both local drivers and foreign ones. The project to introduce a fee for foreigners was one of the key ones for the previous cabinet: the election promises of the conservatives from the Bavarian Christian Social Union became an important part of the coalition agreement.
The current government had to see through what was started: the toll law was adopted, numerous regulations were developed, decisions on technical issues were prepared, economic feasibility was calculated — not without questions about the project's profitability — and contractors were found. Tens of millions of euros were paid for all the pleasures — from technical to legal expertise.
These expenses are not the end of the matter: the government has signed contracts with companies that were supposed to ensure the collection of fees from motorists. Now these companies are left without major government contracts and are unlikely to forgive the German government for lost profits: it is expected that lawsuits from developers will amount to up to 300 million euros.
In neighboring Austria, the European Court of Justice's decision was met with approval. Germany and the Alpine republic often conflict over roads, and it is mainly border Bavaria that gets the brunt of it. Disputes arise either over border controls or over the use of detour roads. In particular, the authorities of Tyrol have now made a high-profile decision to ban transit traffic outside the autobahns.
Through this Austrian federal state runs the shortest route from the north to Italy. During the holiday season, many drivers (most often German) try to bypass the Austrian road toll (a vignette for 10 days costs 9.20 euros), the separately charged fee for using the Brenner autobahn (a single trip costs 9.50 euros), or simply avoid traffic jams. Navigation systems often lead to local roads even those who did not try to find detours — a slowdown on the main road or a queue at toll booths is enough.
The mass bypassing of the autobahn in turn causes massive congestion on rural roads, creating many difficulties for local residents, worsening the environmental situation, and significantly increasing the burden on infrastructure. Austria's central position on the continent, which brings the country economic benefits in many ways, is a big minus in terms of transit traffic.
Now attempts to bypass the expressways are being thwarted by the Austrian traffic police, who patrol exits and send transit traffic back to the autobahn. The ban will be in effect on weekends and public holidays until mid-September, with exceptions only for foreign drivers who are spending their vacation in Austria.
The verification criteria are vague and raise many questions. Motorists will have to accept that the decision to let a particular foreigner onto a local road or not is simply left to the discretion of village police officers.
The Bavarian authorities are outraged by the Tyrolean approach: they are preparing retaliatory measures, and the prime minister of the German state, Markus Söder, has announced his intention to appeal to the European Court of Justice — in connection with violations of anti-discrimination legislation.