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In the toll investigation committee, Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU) can speak for the first time on Thursday. However, other witnesses will be heard beforehand. A source’s statement increases pressure on Scheuer: the head of the originally planned operating company contradicted the minister’s information in several cases.
The project “went well to the end,” said Autoticket joint venture managing director Volker Schneble. Until the contract was terminated shortly after the Court of Justice of the European Communities (ECJ) annulled the toll in June 2019, the project’s traffic lights were “constantly green”. The termination by the federal government was spontaneous and for political reasons. “That was a short-circuit reaction.”
In addition to the ruling, the ministry had mentioned poor performance and problems in cooperation for completion. The reason it was canceled is important to an ongoing arbitration process between Autoticket shareholders and the federal government. The companies claim compensation of 560 million euros. The federal government strictly rejects it and notes that in the event of termination for various reasons, the company would not be entitled to contractual claims.
Schneble said the resignation was “very regrettable” and “clear foul play.” The minister was in charge of finalizing the project. From the operator’s point of view, the implementation of the toll would have been legally possible even after the ECJ ruling.
See in the video: Scheuer and the toll issue – How did it come about and what role did the minister play?
Schnebel’s statement also contradicts Scheuer’s statements on another central point. Before the commission of inquiry, Schneble reconfirmed that the operator had made a pending offer. According to Schneble, in a conversation with Scheuer on November 29, 2018, the operator offered to wait for the ECJ’s decision, that is, “suspend” the project (that is: temporarily interrupt).
Schneble noted that the ministry may have had more time for the Bundestag to approve a higher financial framework for the project. The opposition accuses Scheuer of having concluded the contracts at the end of 2019 before legal certainty existed.
Scheuer denies that such an offer was pending. In the Bundestag Scheuer had said that the timing of the contract was “not a problem at all” at the meeting: “No, this offer did not exist.”
