A European Union directive could very soon hit the wallets of many motorists.
In France, as in other European countries, driving on the highway most often requires taking out your credit card. But this is not the case everywhere. Around ten countries on the old continent, including Germany, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands, have many sections of free motorways. However, this could quickly change, especially for those who do not comply with a recent European directive. This, called Eurovignette, obliges all member states of the European Union to make motorists pay for the environmental costs of pollution generated by motor vehicles.
This measure, which first concerned heavy goods vehicles before extending more recently to private cars, should have come into force at the latest at the end of March. But some have not yet applied it. The bad performers are Spain, Portugal, Italy, Bulgaria, Greece, Poland, Malta and Luxembourg. Faced with this inaction, the EU has just given them an ultimatum: they have two months to implement charges based on CO2 emissions emitted by polluting vehicles.
What could this change? Take the example of Spain. In recent years, certain motorways have become free again after the Spanish government’s refusal, in 2018, to renew concessions to private companies. Although this free service is quite recent, motorists have obviously taken a liking to it. And this threat of a generalized return to paid tolls makes a large number of Spaniards cringe. This measure is also very bad news for many French people living not far from the borders of the countries concerned. We think of those close to Spain, Italy and Luxembourg.
Some, accustomed to using foreign highways, sometimes daily to go to work – more than a hundred thousand French people work in Luxembourg -, or more sporadically to go shopping or sightseeing, now risk having to pay to benefit from the expressways. A French habit – the first toll was inaugurated in 1961 with the aim of being able to finance the maintenance of the motorways – which they would have liked not to see transposed to our neighbors.