car toll germany: eugh/U-committee
The Bundestag’s committee of inquiry into the failed car toll presented its final report in June 2021. >> more about the car toll
Since the eugh declared the car toll in germany to be illegal, politicians, including federal transport minister andreas scheuer, have been arguing about responsibility in the investigative committee. final report available in june 2021. This article is continuously updated.
The investigation committee has mid july 2021 presented its final report to clarify the approach of federal minister of transport andreas scheuer in the failed passenger car toll. It states that in weighing the risks of the possibility that the car toll could fail completely before the european court of justice (eugh), "greater significance" is given to the possibility that the car toll could fail completely before the european court of justice (eugh) should have been done. The consideration of advantages and disadvantages made by scheuer before signing the contract was "justifiable", however, from a legal point of view, a later signing would also have been possible. The "case of a lie, deliberate concealment or manipulation" it would not have been possible to credibly demonstrate to the ministry or the minister. in the final report there is also a joint special vote of the opposition factions of FDP, green and left as well as a special vote of afd. In this letter, the parliamentary groups express massive criticism of andreas scheuer, which is also aimed at the premature conclusion of the operator contracts at the end of 2018 without final legal certainty. In the Bundestag, chairman udo schiefner (SPD) commented on the results of the investigative committee: "A lot of things went through the official channels, important things were clarified verbally. That was reckless in view of the obvious risks." CDU deputy nina warken classifies the final report as exonerating scheuer, because even if mistakes had been made in the executive action, it would not have been "any blameable misconduct" to recognize. More on the topic: this is the toll control column
researchers recommend dynamic car toll (video):
Investigations by the committee of inquiry& dispute over the car toll (chronology)
After a new furor over the role of federal Transport Minister andreas scheuer (CSU) in the handling of the failed passenger car toll in germany, the Bundestag’s committee of inquiry will come to a conclusion on 15. april 2021 for a special session together. The opposition had demanded the meeting. The background is that scheuer had refused to cooperate with an investigator appointed by the investigative committee of the Bundestag, as emerged from a letter from scheuer’s lawyer. The opposition accuses scheuer of trying to hide something. Jurg cezanne, chairman of the left, said: "a little cooperativeness would suit minister scheuer well. If he had put half as much energy into clearing up the matter as he did into the backroom deals surrounding the toll, there would probably be no need for special meetings." meanwhile, union chairman ulrich lange (CSU) defended scheuer: "it is the right of federal minister scheuer to exercise his constitutionally guaranteed rights as a member of the Bundestag in this way." lange went on to say that he assumed that the discussion session would be a regular meeting of the investigative committee and not a special meeting. The cooperation was about a review of scheuer’s e-mail boxes, which are available to him as a member of the Bundestag, by the investigating commissioner jerzy montag. Montag wrote to the chairman of the investigation committee that he no longer saw any possibility of acting as an investigating officer.
Even after federal Transport Minister andreas scheuer (CSU) end of january 2021 testified for around ten hours as the last witness in the committee of inquiry into the failed car toll in germany, many questions remain unanswered. The opposition parliamentary groups of the Greens, FDP and Left are now hoping for answers from the communication via scheuer’s e-mail accounts and have achieved a success in this regard before the Federal Supreme Court (BGH). The decision of an investigating judge states that the investigation committee must gather evidence by requesting the president of the Bundestag to submit log files. This involves three of scheuer’s deputy accounts. The decision may be appealed to the Federal Court of Justice, which will decide on the matter, the resolution continues. opposition suspects scheuer did not submit all relevant communication on failed car toll via e-mail inboxes. In her opinion, it should be possible to draw conclusions from the log files about the type, frequency, duration and participants of the e-mail correspondence. Committee chairman udo schiefner (SPD) said he would thoroughly evaluate the BGH’s 25-page decision and then discuss further steps. FDP chairman christian jung said that the logfiles of scheuer’s mdb-accounts and those of his mdb-employees could now be evaluated. Scheuer must now also cooperate immediately with the investigator appointed by the investigative committee. Union chairman ulrich lange (CSU), on the other hand, said that accusations against the minister had not been confirmed at any point. Scheuer was "clearly exonerated. He had stringently implemented the law. In his testimony, the Federal Minister of Transport himself defended his controversial approach to the failed passenger car toll and denied the accusations. One thing is certain: even more than a year after the committee of inquiry began its work, the investigation into the failed passenger car toll in germany is far from over.
Federal Transport Minister andreas scheuer (CSU) has comprehensively defended his approach to the failed car toll in germany against criticism. In the course of his testimony on 28. January 2021 in his opening statement to the federal parliament’s committee of inquiry, he repeatedly emphasized that he had acted to the "best of his knowledge and belief" acted. In addition, he had oriented all decisions to the good of the federal government and had a "clear legal, budgetary and political implementation mandate" when he took office in March 2018 found for the passenger car toll. "This order was binding for me", so scheuer. The minister also again rejected accusations that he had not taken sufficient account of the legal risks involved neither when concluding contracts with the toll operating companies at the end of 2018 nor before a pending ruling by the european court of justice (eugh). In december 2018, he had made a "weighing decision" had to take into account the legal risks, explained scheuer. One option would have been to conclude a contract for a project that had been comprehensively examined from a legal and economic point of view, which would have earned the federal government high sums in the hundreds of millions. The other option would have been to have a "minimal" treating legal residual risk as a priority and not concluding the agreement, but accepting a loss of revenue for the federal government. Scheuer said that, from today’s perspective, he would make the same decision again. The CSU politician also reiterated that the toll was a project that was broadly supported by the grand coalition at the time and had been approved twice by the Bundestag and the Bundesrat. Even during the negotiations on the jamaika coalition in 2017, which ultimately fell through, it was agreed with the FDP and the Greens that the toll would be continued. The Greens and FDP in particular are now accusing scheuer of negligence.
Former federal transport minister alexander dobrindt (SCU) has rejected accusations of shared responsibility for the failure of the passenger car toll in germany. During his testimony in the Bundestag’s investigative committee on 14. January 2021 he referred to a compromise reached with the EU commission at the end of 2016 on the german passenger car toll model. The commission had "virtually put a stamp" on it dobrindt said that the toll was in conformity with european law. The toll could thus be implemented. The ruling of the european court of justice (eugh) that "wiped the slate clean" of tolls had taken him by surprise. And with regard to his successor in office, andreas scheuer (CSU), dobrindt said he had borne political responsibility during his time as federal minister. However, each minister is responsible for his or her own decision. The opposition, on the other hand, continues to see dobrindt as jointly responsible for the failure of the passenger car toll. Under his leadership, the toll laws were passed through the Bundestag and the Bundesrat it. FDP chairman Christian jung, for example, said that dobrindt had shifted the entire political responsibility for the car toll disaster onto scheuer. Green Party chairman oliver krischer spoke of clear "cracks" in the CSU building, there were discernible moves away from scheuer. Dobrindt’s argument that the commission had a "carte blanche" under european law had was far-fetched and had already been refuted by a witness. The former head of cabinet of ex-EU Commission President jean-claude juncker, martin selmayr, had testified that the fact that the EU Commission had discontinued the infringement proceedings against germany in 2017 in the matter of the car toll was no guarantee of legal certainty. Krischer said that dobrindt’s statement was an attempt to avoid his own responsibility as "architect of the toll" to be pushed away.
Shortly before former federal transport minister Alexander dobrindt (CSU) and former state transport secretary Gerhard Schulz testified as witnesses in the Bundestag’s committee of inquiry into the failed car toll, e-mails from current federal transport minister Andreas scheuer (CSU) once again caused an uproar. As the "spiegel" on 14. January 2021 reported, scheuer is said to have been on the 31. on december 2018, schulz informed him of the toll agreement concluded the day before via a private e-mail address outside of the official channels. Officially, he received only scanty information. According to the report, he allegedly did not disclose the mailbox at the provider GMX to parliament. However, in response to a question from FDP politician Christian jung in the committee of inquiry, he replied: "I have handed over everything that is the subject of the investigation with a declaration of completeness." the control committee had already uncovered that scheuer had had toll information sent to his Bundestag office mailbox. The ministry of transport finally submitted the relevant documents. doubts about the completeness of the correspondence remain, however. In the case of the private post office box, the exact address of which was reported to the "spiegel" it could now be the secret communication channel that has been the subject of a search for months. Schulz told the investigative committee that he had sent something to scheuer’s GMX address once or twice, but not about the tolls. In addition, the former secretary of state for transport corroborated the testimony he had already given in october 2020 regarding statements by managers of the later operating companies: he was "very confident", that there had been no meeting at which they had offered to wait until the eugh decides on the car toll before concluding the contracts.
The FDP had at the beginning january 2021 in the course of dealing with the debacle surrounding the car toll in germany, a lawsuit was filed against the ministry of transport before the berlin administrative court. This is what oliver luksic, member of the Bundestag, told the deutsche presse agency. The background to this is an expert opinion on the so-called gross company value and thus on the possible compensation for damages in connection with the passenger car toll. The ministry has so far refused to allow the public to inspect the report: "Citizens have the right to know the impending costs of the failed car toll, said luksic. A neutral expert opinion that quantifies these costs has been available for months, but is being kept under wraps by the Ministry of Transport. One of the reasons given by the Ministry of Transport for refusing to allow the public to inspect the report was that there was a possibility that the information could have a detrimental effect on the arbitration proceedings with CTS eventim and Kapsch, the companies that were actually supposed to operate the system.
Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU) was forced to take the stand on Thursday, 1 January. october 2020 , to the investigative committee of the federal parliament, which is to shed light on the proceedings surrounding the burst passenger car toll. The focus was on the controversial contracts with the terminated toll operators and the question: did scheuer lie to parliament?? Under scrutiny: three secret meetings between scheuer and managers of the operating companies. At a meeting on 29. In November 2018, the operators allegedly offered scheuer to wait until an eugh decision before signing a contract. The Federal Minister of Transport had refused to do so because the toll was to be introduced before the 2021 election year, which was why time was pressing. This is how the managing director of CTS eventim and representative of the operator, klaus-peter schulenberg, explained the situation to the investigative committee. Georg kapsch, the head of the second consortium partner kapsch, confirmed this. Andreas scheuer contradicted the statement, saying that at that time there was still no sign of the contract being signed: "because the consortium’s bid was still one billion euros above the two billion euros approved by the bundestag at that time." gerhard schulz, former state secretary in the ministry of transport, confirmed that, to his recollection, there had been no offer to postpone the tolls. According to the transport minister, it was also assumed on the basis of broad expertise that the toll would go through and that a defeat was "totally unlikely" be. When the toll toppled, scheuer cancelled the contract. According to him, however, this happened not only because of the ruling, but also because of insufficient progress in implementation. The operators defended themselves against the accusations: "We have always worked cleanly." according to kapsch, the federal government had never threatened to abandon the project. At the end of 2018, the operators had been awarded the contract to collect and monitor the tolls, even though there was still no legal certainty regarding the toll for passenger cars. The U committee has been trying since the end of 2019 to clarify whether there were omissions in the awarding of the toll and the termination of the contracts.
July 2020: the opposition has raised new accusations against federal transport minister andreas scheuer (CSU) in its handling of the failed passenger car tolls. The Bundestag’s investigative committee has now received emails that were sent via scheuer’s account as a deputy. FDP, left and green parties, however, suspect that mails are still missing. They again called for an independent investigator to sift through Scheuer’s deputies’ mailbox for crucial communications. The committee chairman,udo schiefner (SPD), wants this to be investigated. FDP, left-wing and green parties had insisted on the release of the emails as evidence for the investigation besides mails and other documents from the ministry itself. In a letter from the ministry, the late transmission is excused. It was a subsequent delivery that was due to an "office oversight" was due to. The Greens’ chairman of the committee, Stephan Kuhn, criticized scheuer for presenting only bits and pieces of information to the committee of inquiry into the failed car toll. Left-wing chairman Jorg cezanne said: "the sudden submission of hundreds of emails does not strengthen the trust of the deputies towards minister scheuer and the claim of full transparency that he has postulated several times."
May 2020: federal interior minister horst seehofer (CSU) has rejected accusations of shared responsibility for the failed passenger car toll. The former head of the CSU was arrested on 28 February. May 2020 questioned as a witness in the Bundestag committee of inquiry. In advance, he answered the question of whether he had done everything right with the car toll: "Absolutely." he also said that if he were the current party leader, he would again pursue plans for a car toll, but with a stronger emphasis on climate protection. In february, former federal transport minister peter ramsauer, as a witness in the committee, had emphasized the responsibility of chancellor angela merkel (CDU) and the then CSU leader seehofer. According to him, they would have "looked on with eyes wide open" an "impossibility under european law car toll negotiated into the 2013 coalition agreement.
March 2020: the Bundestag’s committee of inquiry into the failed car toll cannot access certain cell phone data of transport minister andreas scheuer (CSU), according to FDP information. The transport policy spokesman of the FDP parliamentary group, oliver luksic,with that the cell phone data of the minister and other executives in the ministry for the period before february 2019 had been deleted. According to luksic, fact-finding will be hampered by the "massive documentation gap" hinders. "The cell phone data of former state secretary Beermann was also deleted after he left the ministry, even though the investigation committee was on its way at the time." Stephan Kuhn, Green Party chairman of the U committee, said: "It seems that the transport ministry has acted systematically here. Scheuer let reject the accusations. The Department of Transportation said that as part of an interdepartmental decision to switch from blackberry to apple cell phones, the previous devices were returned and "routinely reset" by IT in late 2018/early 2019 been. "it is irrelevant whether old service cell phones still exist or not", read it further. In principle: "all relevant data and documents are made public"." the ministry has provided the investigating committee with all "documents of the house management that are relevant to the investigation" according to evidence presented that had been gathered so far.
February 2020: in the dispute over financial claims due to the failed passenger car toll, the federal government is resorting to additional legal means and has filed an arbitration claim against the intended, but now terminated, pk toll operators in order to initiate arbitration proceedings. This was announced by the ministry of transport in february 2020. The aim is to establish that the operators "are not entitled to any reimbursement or compensation claims against the federal government". Attempts to settle the dispute internally with fimen kapsch and CTS eventim, which are claiming 560 million euros in damages, have failed. on the same day, former transport minister peter ramsauer (CSU), who was in office from 2009 to 2013, testified as a witness at the meeting of the committee of inquiry into the failed passenger car toll. In doing so, he came to the defense of his successors in office, alexander dobrindt and andreas scheuer (both CSU). Chancellor angela merkel (CDU) and then-CSU leader horst seehofer had "seen things through their eyes" during the 2013 coalition negotiations with the SPD an "impossibility under european law" negotiated into the coalition agreement. "My successors in office had to deal with this mortgage, and the rest is known", ramsauer said in view of the later burst car toll. In addition, it became known at the meeting of the investigative committee that data from the cell phone of transport minister andreas scheuer had been secured. This also concerns data of the state secretaries involved in the toll and the management level of the ministry, said the FDP politician christian jung.
February 2020: more than two months after a criminal complaint was filed against federal transport minister andreas scheuer (CSU) over the failed car toll, the berlin public prosecutor’s office does not see sufficient grounds for suspicion of disloyalty. "No investigation proceedings have been initiated", said martin steltner, spokesman for the prosecuting authority in february 2020. There were a number of criminal charges. "These are all testing procedures". Some of them had already been hired. The criminal charges of two left-wing members of the Bundestag for disloyalty are still being investigated. They had argued that the violations of procurement and budgetary law found by the Federal Audit Office in the contract for the car toll collection were serious and accused the minister of misappropriating taxpayers’ money. In the dispute over compensation claims, arbitration proceedings are now emerging between the federal government and the planned operators kapsch and CTS eventim, who put their claims against the federal government at 560 million euros before christmas 2019.
January 2020: the first witnesses were heard at the end of january 2020 by the committee of inquiry into the failed car toll. In this context, the Federal Audit Office renewed its accusations against the Ministry of Transport. A representative of the authority made it clear that there had been a lack of risk assessment and violations of budgetary and public procurement law in the house of transport minister andreas scheuer (CSU) in the case of the passenger car toll, which later collapsed. As early as november 2019, the Court of Auditors had accused scheuer of serious deficiencies in a report to the Bundestag. Politicians from the opposition factions see this as a heavy burden for scheuer. The report is the "worst possible slap in the face" for scheuer and the minister had to make it with the "budget truth" FDP politician Christian Jung, for example, said before the meeting of the investigative committee that the Federal Audit Office did not take its accusations seriously. CSU politician ulrich lange, on the other hand, warned against turning the court of auditors into a "crown witness" against scheuer. The report is not conclusive in itself. the ministry of transport again rejected the court of auditors’ criticism as unjustified and also pointed out that it was "comprehensive and complete" cooperating with the authority. On the other hand, a head of the federal audit office’s audit department told the committee that cooperation with the ministry was "not without conflict" and "in need of improvement and "in need of improvement".
January 2020: a law firm’s report heavily incriminates federal transport minister andreas scheuer (CSU). As the "spiegel" reported, a paper from the law firm chatham states that the ministry of transport "violated the applicable public procurement law in several respects" HAVE. In addition, it is questionable whether there should have been an award procedure at all. After all, there had already been uncertainty as to whether a toll on passenger cars was permissible under European law at all. There were also doubts about the proper keeping of minutes of the talks. Meanwhile, on the fringes of the committee, the FDP demanded that andreas scheuer’s official smartphones be secured. "In contrast to ursula von der leyen, andreas scheuer must not be allowed to destroy evidence of cell phone data and, above all, SMS messages or smartphones that have disappeared and been wiped clean.", so FDP chairman christian jung with a view to the ex-defense minister. No cell phone data from her is available to the committee of inquiry into the consultant affair because it has been deleted. The next meeting of the investigative committee on the car toll, with initial questioning of witnesses, will take place at the end of january 2020.
December 2019: a good six months after the failure of the car toll, the originally intended operating companies are demanding 560 million euros from the federal government. This was communicated by the companies kapsch and CTS eventim in december 2019 in a mandatory release for the stock exchanges. The contracts for the collection and control of the controversial toll had been concluded even before the european court of justice (eugh) overturned the plans in june 2019. The claim for damages is now intended to compensate for lost profits and the costs incurred, as reported by the "Suddeutsche zeitung" reports. In addition, according to the online portal of the tageszeitung, there have been attempts in recent weeks by the transport ministry and its lawyers to avert the determination of the exact amount of damages for the time being. Assuming the allegations are true, this would be the second attempt to make it considerably more difficult to deal with the toll debacle. The situation for federal transport minister andreas scheuer (CSU) is thus becoming even more acute: in recent months, he had always rejected the claims of the planned car toll operators. His behavior could now cost germany’s taxpayers dearly.
December 2019: shortly after the start of the committee of inquiry into the failed car toll in december 2019, there was an uproar about documents from the ministry of transport: the ministry is said to have classified files on the toll as confidential, according to the "spiegel" reports. As can be seen from an e-mail from the secretariat of the U-committee, a first delivery of evidence materials was received by the committee. The documents in question were submitted to the transport committee of the Bundestag. In July 2019, Federal Transport Minister andreas scheuer (CSU) had brought files to the committee in a public manner. During the transmission to the investigative committee, the transport ministry has now removed some documents in order to make them available to the committee via the secret protection agency. This is to prevent interference with "possible arbitration proceedings and to protect business and trade secrets" is said in an email that was made available to the german press agency. "Scheuer is getting nervous and probably wants to muzzle the deputies. Instead of providing the transparency that was announced so grandiosely, he is now relying on secrecy.", said FDP transport politician oliver luksic on the subject. And the chairman of the transport committee, Green politician cemozdemir, wrote on twitter that scheuer had only received files with "ballyhoo" rolled into parliament, but now they would be "more secret than thought classified. The ministry of transport, however, firmly rejected the accusations. Since the evidence in the investigative committee is public, the classification of some of the files was changed to protect sensitive data. "This means: before and after, the files are public in parliament."
october 2019: in the course of the failed car toll in germany, there are said to have been not only two meetings between the federal ministry of transport and the managers of the intended toll operators. at the beginning of october 2019, following an ultimatum from the green party, it had to concede to five further talks with company representatives from CTS eventim and kapsch, as the Suddeutsche zeitung reported. Accordingly, the secret meetings are to have taken place between 3. October 2018 and the 23. may 2019 have taken place. scheuer himself is said to have been involved in three of these, chancellery chief helge braun in one. The meetings were not documented in the toll files, nor was the Bundestag informed by the transport ministry. thus, scheuer, the "maximum possible transparency", comes under pressure had promised in relation to the toll contracts, further under pressure. Insider information obtained by the Suddeutsche Zeitung suggests that representatives of the planned car toll operator companies suggested at a meeting that the toll contracts should not be signed until after the expected ruling by the european court of justice (eugh). Scheuer rejected- with reference to the project’s tight schedule- and the contracts were concluded before the eugh overturned the plans in june 2019. CTS eventim and kapsch are now threatened with claims for damages. The Federal Ministry of Transport denies that there was any such offer.
September 2019: in the dispute over the failed passenger car toll in germany, the federal government accuses the operating companies of awarding contracts improperly. The accusation here is that the operators who were actually supposed to operate the roads had still awarded contracts to other companies, even though the european court of justice (eugh) had already overturned the tolls and the federal government had cancelled the contracts. As the "Suddeutsche Zeitung" reports and the WDR reported at the beginning, it is about seven contracts with a volume of 576 million euros, according to research by focus even an amount of 895 million euros, which had already been approved in december 2018. According to the SZ and WDR report, a law firm commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Transport accuses the toll-operating companies of a "deliberate attempt to cause unlawful damage. In June 2019, Federal Minister of Transport andreas scheuer (CSU) stated that there were three reasons for the termination of the car toll contracts: regulatory and european law, i.e. the court ruling, poor performance by the contractors, and the awarding of contracts after the termination. According to the ministry of transport, the operator was contractually prohibited from subcontracting without the prior consent of the federal government. This could prove to be important in the dispute over compensation for the planned car toll operator companies CTS eventim and kapsch and the amount of such compensation.
Bounced passenger car tolls cost 79 million euros so far
In the meantime, the failed car toll has cost the federal government 79.3 million euros including seven million euros that had to be paid by 18 December 2018. September 2020 incurred in the current year. This emerges from the answer given by the Federal Ministry of Transport to a Green Party question. According to the report, 5.2 million euros alone have been incurred so far in 2020 for experts and court costs. The total costs incurred since 2014 have thus increased further. in mid-june 2020, the ministry had quoted a sum of 76.7 million euro. The Green transport politician Stephan Kuhn said that the car toll was "one of the most expensive pipe failures of the Bavarian regional party CSU" and their minister of transport andreas scheuer. More on the topic: everything on the german city toll
Why does the car toll violate EU law?? (eugh ruling)
As the european court of justice (eugh) ruled after a lawsuit filed by Germany’s EU neighborsAustria and the netherlands in the june 2019 ruled that the toll on passenger cars is discriminatory because its economic burden falls almost exclusively on the owners and drivers of vehicles registered in other EU member states. It would also violate the principles of free movement of goods and free movement of services in the EU’s internal market. The background: For nationals, the user fee was to be offset by a lower vehicle tax. Österreich has therefore accused germany of discriminating against other nationals and initiated treaty infringement proceedings in october 2017. Since 11. December 2018 the action was heard by the grand chamber of the eugh. However, the ruling comes as a surprise: a leading expert at the european court of justice still considered the german car toll to be legal. Advocate General nils wahl recommended to the judges in luxembourg at the beginning of february 2019 that they reject austria’s complaint against the federal government’s plans. It is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the concept of discrimination, wahl said.
Threat of claims for damages by the passenger car toll operators?
Both CTS eventim and kapsch claim 560 million euros in damages from the federal government.
When was the car toll decided??
The bundesrat let pass the legislative package passed by the Bundestag at the end of March 2017 despite considerable criticism.
When should the toll be introduced?
As recently as the beginning of october 2018, transport minister andreas scheuer (CSU) confirmed that the controversial car toll in germany would "definitely be introduced during this election period" come. At the start of 2019, scheuer then announced october 2020 as the official date for the introduction, with a corresponding contract to be signed on 30 october 2020. signed in december 2018.
Who would have operated the German car toll??
The operators of the car toll in Germany had been decided since mid-December 2018: the Austrian toll system provider kapsch trafficcom and the German concert promoter and ticket seller CTS eventim were to set up a joint venture in which each partner would hold 50 percent of the shares. According to the ministry, the operating company’s tasks were to include, for example, developing and operating an app and an internet site- owners of vehicles registered abroad should be able to register there. In addition, it would have been a matter of setting up and operating payment points where the toll can be booked manually.
Who would have to pay for the car toll?
In addition to passenger cars, motor homes would also have been subject to tolls in germany. Motorcycles, electric cars, cars of disabled people and ambulances would have been exempt from the charges.
What would the car toll have cost?? (calculation)
car tolls in germany were to go hand in hand with car tax cuts so that motorists in germany would not have been subjected to more financial burdens. For euro 6 cars, however, the balance sheet could have been much better as a result of the change agreed with the EU Commission: "those who drive a particularly environmentally friendly euro 6 vehicle will actually pay less than before", promised former federal minister of transport alexander dobrindt. However, this would have made the relief 100 million euros higher than originally planned. the former federal minister of finance wolfgang schauble (CDU) had submitted a draft law that would ensure, at least in the first two years after the introduction, that the respective vehicle tax would be reduced to such an extent that the toll would be completely compensated in any case. From the third year, this additional tax reduction should be reduced again. As a second point, the cabinet decided to change the short-term tariffs for drivers from abroad. Depending on pollutant emissions the passenger car would be charged a ten-day toll in six price levels (the exact costs and their calculation can be found below).
toll sticker
costs
annual vignette with gasoline engine:
euro 0/1/2/3
6,50€ per 100ccm engine capacity or part thereof
euro 4/5
2€ per 100 cc or part thereof
euro 6
1,80€ per 100 cc or part thereof
annual vignette with diesel engine:
euro 0/1/2/3
9,50€ per 100 cc or part thereof
euro 4/5
5€ per 100 cc or part thereof
euro 6
4,80€ per 100 cc or part thereof
short term vignettes
costs according to current law
planned cost adjustment
10-day vignette
if annual vignette would cost less than 20 euro
5 euro
2.50 euro
if the annual vignette would cost between 20 and 40 euros
5 euro
4 euro
if annual vignette would cost between 40 and 70 euro
10 euro
8 euro
if annual vignette would cost between 70 and 100 euro
15 euro
14 euro
if annual vignette would cost over 100 euro
15 euro
20 euro
2-month vignette
if annual vignette would cost less than 20 euro
16 euro
7 euro
if annual vignette would cost between 20 and 40 euro
16 euro
11 euro
if annual vignette would cost between 40 and 70 euro
22 euro
18 euro
if annual vignette would cost between 70 and 100 euro
30 euro
30 euro
if annual vignette would cost over 100 euro
30 euro
40 euro
How would the toll have been levied?
Instead of stickers, as is the case in austria, toll payers in this country should be identifiable by their license plate number. The payment would have to be controlled randomly by means of an electronic license plate comparison. The collection of the car toll would have been taken over by private operators and they would have received 160 million euros in compensation annually.
What penalties would have been?
Those who pay the toll but do not pay the fee would have been fined. ÜThe amount of the fines was still under negotiation. The fines should also have been collected abroad.
