EU-akkoord over eurovignet voor vrachtwagens (en)

EU transport ministers have hammered out a joint policy on road tolls for trucks on Thursday (21 April), ending a two-year deadlock.

At their meeting in Luxembourg, the ministers extended the scope of currently applied road tolls: they will now be imposed on lorries of 3.5 tonnes rather than 12 tonnes, and apply for all roads, not just motorways.

Member states will be allowed to vary tolls according to the truck's size, weight and environmental impact, while the revenues will be used to cover EU infrastructure investment costs.

But critics point out that there is no effective system to check how the countries really use the money collected as road tolls, as the rule to plough it back to transport coffers is not compulsory.

The issue was one of the reasons for the hold-ups, with transit countries wanting higher revenues to offset infrastructure costs, while countries on the fringes of the EU were worried about toll costs.

Thursday's decision must now get the go-ahead from the European Parliament.