Tolls yes or tolls no. The controversy has crept into the electoral campaign in recent hours after the general director of the DGT, Pere Navarro, assured yesterday that the payment for use of some roads will be implemented again in Spain from 2024. His words were denied later by the DGT itself and by the Minister of Transport, Raquel Sánchez, but the confusion is served.
The sequence began in the morning on the TV3 program Els Matins, where Navarro said that “next year, due to the imposition of Brussels, we will have to put tolls, Brussels demands it of us […] This is indeed a great topic for an agreement between the two big parties, to prevent it from entering the electoral debate, which in the end we all lose,” said the person in charge of Traffic.
Hours later, the body he directs disavowed his words, alleging that “he does not have any type of direct information or attributed powers to be able to pronounce.” And almost at the same time, Minister Sánchez denied it “categorically”.
The heart of the matter lies in one of the milestones committed by Spain to the European Union to unblock one of the disbursements of the aid package provided for in the Next Generation funds. The document that the Executive of Sánchez sent to Brussels includes a section dedicated to the “Reform of fiscal measures that contribute to the ecological transition” and, within it, it literally includes “creating a payment for the use of the road network ” as part of the reforms in terms of sustainable mobility. The text, however, does not develop how this measure is specified.
The Executive’s intentions were to establish some kind of payment mechanism in this sense along the lines of the formulas that already exist in other European countries. It was not an imposition of Brussels but a commitment that Spain has acquired with the EU to assimilate its situation to that of other member countries and show its good faith in order to receive the successive disbursements of the Next Generation funds.
In this context, La Moncloa commissioned the public company Ineco last summer to prepare various studies on alternative ways to finance the state highway network. However, at the beginning of 2023 the Executive backtracked on its initial plans and renounced implementing the payment on the roads from 2024, appealing to the economic and social consequences of inflation and the war in Ukraine and also to the political context. marked by the regional elections then scheduled for May 28. In addition, its intention has always been to achieve the consensus of the affected groups (such as that of road transport) and of the CCAAs.
Brussels, as confirmed by the Government to various media, would not have objected to this delay, which is that, a delay, not a withdrawal. The Executive has not ruled out the idea of ??establishing some kind of payment system for the use of highways in our country, but if it is created, it will not start up at the beginning of next year as planned. So when asked if we will have to pay for the use of the roads in Spain, the answer would be yes, but the question and the keys are when, how and who will be in charge of creating and implementing this future pay-per-use system. .
The main argument that is given is to balance the public accounts, which could not continue supporting by themselves the expense in maintenance and conservation of the roads. The State allocated 1,371 million euros to this chapter last year, 11% more than in 2021 and its highest historical figure. In addition, to the principle of “pay for use” that underlies this argument, that of “who pollutes, pays” is added.
In our country there are 165,375 kilometers of roads of all kinds, the vast majority are the responsibility of the CCAA, Provincial Councils and Cabildos. So, initially, the toll would be limited to those that are managed by the Ministry of Transport, with a total of 26,459 kilometers that support 52.5% of total traffic and 64.57% of heavy traffic (trucks).
But not even in this entire network: only the 11,500 km that make up the highways that are not tolls, the dual carriageways and the multi-lane roads. Although the project designed by the Government opens the door for these charges to be later transferred to all highways, including conventional ones) as long as their owners accept it.
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