Dhe project harbors the “considerable danger” of a violation of European law. The hope of the Ministry of Transport to get the car toll at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has to be “judged skeptically”. Such objections have often been raised against the CSU project. But the reservations quoted here do not come from the opposition. Not even from expert reports or media reports. But from the Federal Chancellery.
For years at the head of the federal government, concerns were raised against the CSU plans to introduce a car toll that only charged foreigners. This is shown by documents that are available to WELT. This raises the question of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s (CDU) responsibility for the toll debacle that arose in June last year after the negative judgment of the CJEU. By accepting the toll imposed by the Transport Ministers Alexander Dobrindt and Andreas Scheuer (both CSU), Merkel ignored objections from her own home?
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There were objections as early as 2014, when the then Minister of State, Dobrindt, internally presented his plan to levy a toll (“infrastructure charge”) from both foreigners and residents, but to save German motorists any additional burden by correspondingly lowering the vehicle tax. On June 27, 2014, the head of the department responsible for transport policy at the Chancellery for Transport Policy (BMVI) gave this vote: “No approval for the short-term publication of the concept submitted by BMVI.”
The reason given in the letter addressed to the then Chancellor, Peter Altmaier (CDU): “It should not be permissible for the infrastructure tax paid by residents to be credited against the tax, since in this way the car toll for residents is taxed “There is” a significant risk “that the EU Commission” and in the event of a very probable complaint, the ECJ will interpret the regulation as a violation of the prohibition of discrimination against EU foreigners “.
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The head of unit from the Chancellery was not alone in his concerns. When the Federal Ministry of Transport adhered to the concept two months later and had sent it to the other ministries for coordination, on August 28, 2014, he wrote in a letter addressed directly to “Federal Chancellor” that the Ministry of Finance also had objections to European law.
“A clear offset of the infrastructure tax against the vehicle tax only for residents, which would lead to discrimination against EU foreigners, should not take place,” it said in a statement by the Ministry of Finance.
As a result, the Ministry of Transport revised its concept and tried to use more flexible wording and changed vehicle tax rates to suggest that there should be no one-to-one compensation for tolls for residents. But the effect remained the same: The motor vehicle tax cuts continued to ensure that no domestic vehicle owner would have been additionally burdened by the toll.
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As a result, the toll would still only have hit real foreigners. The Chancellor’s Office commented accordingly on October 28, 2014, as follows: “There is still the possibility that the Commission (and in the event of a complaint also the ECJ) the proposed regulation as a violation of the prohibition of discrimination against EU Interpreted by foreigners. “
When the plan was nevertheless to be adopted by the cabinet in December 2014, the department stated in a note: “Nevertheless, compatibility with European law should become a major hurdle for the legislative proposal.” In fact, there were conflicts with the EU Commission, who assessed the toll plans as violating European law. The Chancellor’s Office thought that Germany would prevail in this dispute: “BMVI’s hopes of being able to succeed before the ECJ must be viewed with skepticism,” says a letter dated April 22, 2016.
An agreement was subsequently reached with the EU Commission. But the danger was by no means legally eliminated. Because in October 2017 Austria filed a lawsuit against the German toll with the ECJ. And when the court upheld the lawsuit in June 2019 and declared the German passenger car toll to be contrary to European law, the head of that department wrote directly to Chancellor Merkel on June 18, 2019: “A negative ECJ judgment was always to be feared.”
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Operating companies demand 560 million repayment
After the car toll failed, the terminated operating companies are demanding around 560 million euros from the federal government. The European Court of Justice overturned the toll plans in June after contracts had already been signed.
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The finding is particularly explosive because, at the time of the CJEU judgment, contracts for toll collection had already been concluded with private operators. Acting Transport Minister Scheuer had the contracts sealed in late autumn 2018. From the letters from the Chancellery Department, the question now arises as to why Scheuer did this despite considerable concerns at the top of the government – and also why they let him do it. The consequences can be serious for taxpayers. Since Scheuer terminated the contracts immediately after the judgment, the operators are now demanding compensation from the federal government in the amount of 560 million euros.
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In the opinion of the Greens parliamentary group, Oliver Krischer, the reason for this could be an “eye-to-and-through” mentality. Krischer said to WELT: “There were clear warnings in the various ministries and in the Chancellery,” but these were “completely ignored in the Ministry of Transport and by the CSU ministers”. Krischer’s group colleague Stephan Kühn, member of the parliamentary investigation committee on car tolls, also takes a look at the Chancellor.
The evaluations of Merkel’s experts are “clear”, said Kühn WELT. “The Chancellery, and thus Angela Merkel”, knew early on that “the CSU’s favorite project would probably not exist before the ECJ”. But “seeing eyes”, said Kühn, “the Chancellor let her Transport Minister Dobrindt and Scheuer drive against the wall.”
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:quality(80)/cdn-kiosk-api.telegraaf.nl/9a58c010-5e65-11ea-86a4-02c309bc01c1.jpg "‘Cloth threatens to fall for Flybe’ | Financial")