Trial against former Transport Minister Scheuer, the toll and the open questions
The failure of the car toll seven years ago cost German taxpayers hundreds of millions of euros. Now former Transport Minister Scheuer must answer for his actions in court: he is alleged to have given false testimony before a parliamentary committee of inquiry.
This is perhaps the final chapter in a long story about the car toll, which began in 2013 when the then CSU leader Horst Seehofer campaigned on an idea: drivers from abroad should pay to use German motorways. "This toll for foreigners must come and it will come. It is a matter of justice," he said.
However, even at that time there were legal concerns about whether the CSU's toll idea was compatible with EU law. EU law stipulates that people from other EU countries must not be disadvantaged. Although everyone was to pay the car toll, German drivers were to be compensated through vehicle tax.
The then CSU Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt pushed the legislation through despite all the concerns. "The car toll is fair. It is sensible and it is just," he maintained.
Dobrindt was wrong
In 2015, the Bundestag passed the law and Alexander Dobrindt had no concerns that the toll could still fail. "It is compliant with European law," he said.
Dobrindt was wrong. Years later, Austria filed a lawsuit and won. The European Court of Justice blocked the German plans in 2019. The car toll of the black-red government would discriminate against drivers from other EU countries, the court ruled. By that point, Andreas Scheuer had long since taken over as Transport Minister.
"I inherited a law that had previously been passed by the federal government, the Bundestag and the Bundesrat. That had been reviewed and signed by two Federal Presidents," said Scheuer.
Contradictions before the committee of inquiry
Scheuer's problem, however, was that he had not waited for the European Court of Justice's ruling, but had already concluded the multi-million euro contracts with the toll operators beforehand. The federal government had to terminate these following the ruling. The operators demanded compensation. In the end, the toll cost taxpayers around 270 million euros.
A parliamentary committee of inquiry was set up to examine how this waste of taxpayers' money could have occurred. At the time, Scheuer emphasised: "It is important to me to provide the members of parliament with information. I will do so today in full, to the best of my knowledge and belief."
However, the Berlin public prosecutor's office does not believe that Scheuer actually testified to the best of his knowledge and belief at the time. The committee of inquiry also specifically addressed the question of why the toll contracts were signed even though it was not clear what the court's ruling would be. The toll operating companies are also said to have offered Scheuer the option of waiting for the ECJ ruling before contracts were signed. This is what company representatives testified before the committee of inquiry.
Scheuer denies allegations
The then Transport Minister, however, repeatedly denied that such an offer was made. Before the committee of inquiry, Scheuer testified that he could not recall such an offer. But the Berlin public prosecutor's office doubts this, seeing contradictions in Scheuer's statements, and has filed charges.
"The prosecution assumes that this constitutes a deliberate false statement. And it will now be the court's task to clarify whether the accused can actually be proven to have committed this act or not," said a spokeswoman.
Andreas Scheuer denies the allegations and has his lawyer convey that he is confident the court will confirm his innocence.
