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ROAD PRICING WHAT THE TRANSPORT COMMITTEE SAID "It's a way
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of raising more taxes by making transport more expensive," says German Christian Democrat MEP Georg Jarzembowski. The study does not show that tolls change the modal split. Congestion charging changes nothing unless you build more railways. There's no rationale, no environmental impact. It's just money into the treasury. You cannot help the environment by making transport more expensive."
German Green party MEP Michael Cramer supports the idea that all roads must be tolled. "In Germany HGV tolls benefit electronic companies but do not do much for congestion. There's a danger that you empty the motorways and create congestion on rural roads."
UK Labour MEP Brian Simpson agrees. 'Partial tolling leads to rat
runs. The M6 toll road runs freely because there's no-one on it. The old part of the M6 is, however, very busy."
He is also concerned about what the money will be used for. "You can never convince finance ministers to spend money— especially on transport. There's nothing in the study about ring-fencing money for transport infrastructure to make it acceptable to the tax payer."
The idea of placing extra costs on transport horrified one Spanish MEP "This proposal would mean the coup de grace for road transport in my country," he says. He adds that there is bound to be a conflict on the proposal between countries that are contralto the EU and those on the periphery. "it's not just tag lorries that cause pollution. We
all cause pollution,' he adds. He was supported by Spanish Socialist Group MEP Ines Ayala Sender, who says that private vehicles should also pay.
For the European Commission, Grillo Pasquarelli from DUrren ( the EC's transport &Ice) says: We will work on an optional directive where member states can exclude part of their networks." He dismisses the idea that the economic climate should affect the EC's intentions, if not now, when?" He adds: We are Looking at 2012 to see if we can take wider steps towards a possibly binding system."