Toll is due to be introduced in 2016 with motorists registering their license plates via the internet. The levy at petrol stations and the fee will take into account engine size. Foreign drivers can pay a 10-day levy for €10 or two month for €22.
The German government introduced a controversial
road toll on Thursday which will force foreign car drivers to pay up to
€130 a year for using Germany’s Autobahn motorways.
The plan, intended to help Germany
fund the upkeep of its transport infrastructure which is used by
millions of foreign vehicles, may yet face a legal challenge in Brussels
for discriminating against foreign motorists.
After months of heated debate between Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party Christian Social Union (CSU), Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt dropped an original idea to raise the fee on all roads.
However, the minister stuck to the
plan that the toll will not lead to extra costs for German drivers by
allowing them to offset the levy against an already existing motor
vehicle tax.
Dobrindt, a leading member of the
CSU, said he was convinced that his draft law does not discriminate
against foreign motorists and therefore would stand if challenged in
court.
“The infrastructure fee is sensible, fair
and just,” the minister said, adding that the revenues of the toll would
only be used to modernise Germany’s motorways and main roads.
The
toll is expected to be introduced in 2016. Motorists have to pay it by
registering their license plates via the internet. Foreigners can also
pay the levy at gas stations.
The fee will take
into account the cylinder capacity and environmental compatibility of
the car with a maximum toll of €130 a year. Foreign drivers can pay a
10-day levy for €10 or two month for €22.
The
minister expects revenues of €3.7 billion of which around €3 billion
will come from domestic drivers. With estimated introduction costs of
nearly €200 million, the net revenue might shrink to just €500 million a
year.
Dobrindt’s CSU wants foreign motorists to
pay tolls on motorways because they think it is unfair that foreigners
travel for free in Germany while German drivers have to pay tolls in
neighbouring countries like Austria, Switzerland and France.
The CSU pressed the motorway toll issue in coalition talks after last year’s German federal elections.
But
Merkel’s CDU and its other coalition ally, the centre-left Social
Democrats (SPD), said they would only back the toll if it did not lead
to extra costs for German motorists and if it complied with European Union rules that prohibit discrimination against foreign motorists.
Germany
has already introduced a satellite-based toll system for lorries that
obliges truck drivers to pay on motorways. This toll depends on the
number of kilometres actually driven.