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Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU) has rejected the central accusations when investigating the toll of vehicles by explosion. Scheuer said Thursday night as a witness in the investigation committee that in a November 2018 meeting with managers of the subsequently planned operating companies, he recalled that there was no offer to postpone the signing of the contract until the ECJ ruling. There was no reason to talk about postponing the signing date when it was not even foreseeable if an agreement could be reached.
In November 2018, Scheuer spoke with the heads of the companies that were awarded the contract to collect the car toll at the end of 2018. The Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) annulled the car toll in June of 2019 because it discriminated against foreign drivers.
The head of consortium partner CTS Eventim, Klaus-Peter Schulenberg, had previously told the committee that in the November 2018 conversation, also in view of open funding issues, he had offered to wait until the ECJ ruling before to sign the contract. Scheuer decidedly rejected the offer.
The minister said the start of the car toll in election year 2021 would be unacceptable and that the toll would have to start in 2020, Schulenberg said. Scheuer made it clear that there were several reports in the ministry that “unanimously and clearly” classified the car toll as compatible with EU law.
The head of the Austrian toll specialist Kapsch, Georg Kapsch, also confirmed this version. In the November 29, 2018 conversation, in view of the open financial issues, Schulenberg offered that if time was needed, the ECJ’s decision could also be awaited. “The minister refused,” Kapsch said.
Scheuer is accused of having concluded the contracts at the end of 2018 before legal certainty existed. The opposition also accuses Scheuer of lying in the Bundestag in September 2019. Scheuer now confirmed the statement he made at the time that postponing the signing of the contract was not an issue at the November 2018 meeting.
