MEPs take the toll

The European Parliament is seeking to harmonise road toll charges throughout the EU.

In a move seeking to bring into line European standards, the parliament’s Transport Committee is recommending that parliament harmonise the calculation of tolls and road charging for heavy vehicles.

Under the so-called 'Eurovignette' plans, Brussels wants to align national toll and road charge systems for lorries using a 'polluter-pays' principle where drivers would pay for the infrastructure they use.

This move is based on the principle that ‘user pays’ and the ‘polluter pays’ and should become a priority of European transport policy for the near future.

MEPs adopted the second-reading recommendation by Corien Wortmann-Kool on the revision of the Eurovignette directive by 24 votes to 4, with 18 abstentions.

The committee voted for a number of compromise amendments of this directive, such as  is proposing compromise amendments addressing controversial issues of this directive: the definition of external costs, the geographical scope of the directive, the types of lorries concerned and toll variations.
 
Although not originally planned, the committee takes the view that lorries of 3,5 tonnes or more should be covered by the Directive by 2010 at the latest.

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