Polluter pays, problem stays.

Brussels - The International Road Transport Union (IRU) warns the European Commission that its current “Polluter-Pays” approach on the internalisation of external costs and the revision of the Eurovignette Directive undermines the European Union’s Lisbon goals” of growth, jobs and competitiveness.

The President of the IRU Goods Transport Liaison Committee, Bertil Dahlin, highlights that, “The Eurovignette Directive will only make the EU less competitive, and is likely to cause even further delocalisation which will, in turn, generate more road transport from abroad! This ‘polluter-pays’ approach simply moves the problem elsewhere instead of solving it on spot! Rather, the IRU advocates the Cheapest Cost Avoider principle, as the most cost-efficient way to reduce external costs of road transport.”

If the EU is to meet the objectives of the Lisbon Agenda whilst reducing road transport’s environmental footprint, it is critical that the European Commission:

• applies charging to all transport modes at the same time;
• earmarks all revenues from road charging to the road transport sector rather than use it for the overall state budget and cross-subsidising inefficient transport modes;
• recognises once and for all that the polluter-pays principle is economically outdated and environmentally misguided, as it does not address the problem;
• applies sound cost-benefit analyses before internalising external costs as advocated by the Cheapest Cost Avoider Principle;
• does not base its policy on the so-called “handbook” which is not a sound and reliable basis for the evaluation of potential internalisation scenarios but is rather long on assertion with highly questionable figures.

“The wave of fuel protests and blockades around the world in recent weeks shed light on transport operators’ serious difficulties to cope with soaring fuel costs. The European Commission is now proposing another cost driver: additional infrastructure charging! This new fiscal penalty imposed on road transport will simply constitute an even greater penalty for the economy as a whole,” Bertil Dahlin concluded.

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