Parliament adopts the taxation of heavy goods vehicles on trans-European networks.
It is no surprise that the European Parliament adopted, at second reading, the draft "Eurovignette" directive which was submitted to it on Thursday in Strasbourg.
A text which concerns the taxation of all commercial vehicles using the trans-European road networks and which should be validated without substantial modification by the Council of Transport Ministers. "This tax will not be added to the others but replace the annual tax", specifies Belgian MEP Mathieu Grosch (European People's Party, Christian Democrats), who insists that it should be "fairer" . Determined according to the km traveled and not the cylinder, it will correspond better to the user / polluter-pays principle, especially since the text provides for a variation in the toll rate depending on the emission of harmful particles. . “The cleaner the vehicle, the more the tax will decrease!” Comments Mathieu Grosch. Another sensitive question: that of the destination of the funds collected, a matter on which the States are particularly jealous of their prerogatives. At this level, Parliament is sticking to a global recommendation which calls for the revenue to be allocated to "improving mobility" in order to prevent the money from being transferred to posts which have nothing to do with transport.