Germany To Slap Foreign Cars With Road Tolls

Germany’s lower house of parliament has agreed to introduce a road toll for cars registered outside the country, including on the Autobahn.

The draft law will see foreign drivers hit with tolls to use certain German roads but be lenient to those foreigners on short journeys and those with more environmentally friendly cars. The maximum annual cost for a foreign vehicle would be 130 euros ($140), reports Reuters.

However, the law will face a number of stumbling blocks before being implemented. For example, the western states of Saarland and Rhineland-Palantinate have said a mediation committee will be used to liaise between the Bundestag and Bundesrat chambers of parliament meaning the law may not be implemented until after the September 24 federal election.

What’s more, Members of the European Parliament oppose the law, alleging that it breaches a violation of the non-discriminatory principle of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

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