Austria fights ecopoints protests

Date: 21/03/02

By Laurence Frost

AUSTRIA is preparing for a fight with its neighbours over plans to prolong its controversial 'ecopoints' scheme which aims to limit the number of foreign lorries using the alpine country as a transit route.

Italy and Germany want changes to the scheme and promises of Austrian infrastructure investment before they agree to the European Commission's proposal to extend the restrictions by up to three years.

Greece, Belgium and the Netherlands are also expected to express reservations about renewing the ecopoints system when transport ministers meet on Tuesday (26 March).

Since its 1995 accession, Austria has been allowed to maintain complex restrictions on road freight based on vehicle emissions and journeys, under an exemption from normal EU rules on freedom of movement.

Under the scheme, EU countries are granted a fixed number of ecopoints every year and lorries crossing Austria use up their quota of points in proportion to their nitrous oxide (NOX) emissions.

EU leaders agreed at last December's Laeken summit to allow Vienna to extend the scheme beyond its end-of-2003 expiry date until a planned EU-wide road charging system is in place.

But Austria's neighbours are increasingly frustrated about the economic repercussions - particularly Italy, which sees around 60 of its trade pass through the country. Its situation has been made worse by the closure of France's Mont Blanc tunnel to lorry traffic and the introduction of road charging in Switzerland.

'We're becoming more and more peripheral,' said an Italian official.

Rome's support for the ecopoints extension could hinge on Vienna's willingness to pledge speedy investment in new infrastructure - in particular a planned tunnel under the Brenner Pass, currently still on the drawing board.

'For us it's a question that has to be resolved in a global perspective,' the same official said. 'We need a commitment that there will be a higher priority and more financial resources given to the [Brenner] project.'

But Austria is determined to defend its restrictions and to avoid a large infrastructure bill for improvements that would mainly benefit its neighbours.

'We're in favour of a single market but not at the expense of the Austrian population,' a Viennese official said. 'Our policy is totally in line with the [Commission's transport] white paper - transport has to be sustainable.'

Austria is confident it can win German backing for the scheme by offering concessions over a transit route near Lake Konstanz, where German operators complain they are forced to pay the flat rate in ecopoints for using just 5km of Austrian road. Separately, the European Court of Justice is considering infringement proceedings brought by the Commission over the way Austria has implemented the '108 rule', which allows it to cut the number of ecopoints granted if the number of journeys in any one year rises above 108 of 1992 levels.The rule would be dropped under the Commission's proposed extension.

Austria is preparing for a fight with its neighbours over plans to prolong its controversial 'ecopoints' scheme which aims to limit the number of foreign lorries using the country as a transit route.