The government factions have reached a decision on the agreements for the Toll Amendment Act. However, it is still being debated how the resulting revenue should be invested - perhaps also to promote green mobility?
The way is clear for the amendment of the toll law. This was announced by the coalition parties last week. After long discussions, the traffic light coalition had finally reached an agreement in the dispute over the HGV toll and on Friday approved the bill to modify the road toll. Only CDU/CSU and the AfD voted against the legislative proposal. Meanwhile, the other parliamentary parties agreed that a toll reform should come in January 2024 - as well as an adjustment of the toll already at the beginning of next year.
According to the agreement, the fee under the Federal Highway Toll Act for trucks will be increased in due time, as well as extended to vehicles of lower weight classes, primarily below the 7.5 tonnes provided for so far. In this way, the regulations on German roads are to be brought into line with EU requirements, which stipulate that tolls must be paid for vehicles weighing 3.5 tonnes or more. As well as better reflecting the results of the current road cost appraisals of the Federal Ministry of Transport for the calculation of the toll sum. The plans for the coming toll reform also include the introduction of an emissions-based road toll, namely the so-called and much disputed CO2 toll.
Whether the envisaged timetable will be possible, however, is still in question. This is because some differences of opinion within the coalition are still causing uncertainty. Especially when it comes to determining the distribution of revenue from the new toll. For the Greens, it is important - according to Green transport politician Matthias Gastel - that these revenues will not go exclusively to new road construction. When making the decision, the government factions should rather refer to the coalition agreement and consequently "support the use of the additional revenue for cross-modal mobility solutions in the future". As the European Union has explicitly allowed since this spring.
If, for example, Germany wants to enable more environmentally friendly freight transport in the sense of the climate goals and thus contribute to the considerable reduction of pollutant emissions from road transport, the additional revenues should not continue to be used only for new roads or the promotion of HGVs. For the at least partially more sustainable rail transport and waterways - both, according to experts, of fundamental importance in the implementation of a multimodal delivery transport system - the necessary resources are still lacking. For the government, the new toll could therefore mean a slow departure from polluting road freight - as well as the opportunity to invest substantial resources in creating a more sustainable system, both in the private and commercial transport sectors.