“Always the same people who pay the price”: from 2025, these free roads will become toll roads

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European motorists are going to have to get ready to dig into their pockets. A European directive, called “Eurovignette”, threatens to transform free motorways into toll roads in several European Union countries.

Eight countries, including Spain, Italy and Luxembourg, are in Brussels' sights for not having yet implemented this regulation, which was due to be applied before March 2024. This new measure, initially designed for heavy goods vehicles before being extended to private vehicles, represents a radical change in European transport policy.

Making motorists pay the environmental costs of the pollution generated by their vehicles: this is the objective of the European authorities. A revolution that will particularly impact countries accustomed to free motorways. Germany has already taken the step by imposing a surcharge of around 200 euros per tonne of CO2 emitted, raising prices by more than 30% in some cases.

Hungary will also be particularly affected, with an average increase of 30% in its toll rates since January 2024. Poland is following suit with a more moderate increase of 13.2%. And this is just the beginning: Denmark is preparing to join the dance for 2025, particularly targeting heavy goods vehicles over 12 tonnes. This cascade of price increases foreshadows what could become the norm across Europe in the coming years.

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More expensive holidays

This reform risks hitting cross-border workers particularly hard. Take the more than 100,000 French people who work in Luxembourg: they may soon have to pay to use roads that were previously free. The same goes for those who live near the Spanish or Italian borders, who are used to crossing the border to do their shopping or go on holiday.

Spain, which had chosen to make certain motorways free in 2018 by refusing to renew private concessions, now finds itself with its back to the wall. Brussels has given him just two months to comply with the directive, much to the dismay of Spanish motorists who had become accustomed to this freedom of movement without tolls.

This situation could also have significant repercussions on tourism, particularly in border regions that rely heavily on visitors from neighbouring countries.

The European Commission has just issued an ultimatumto the eight recalcitrant countries. If the latter do not align quickly, they risk finding themselves before the Court of Justice of the European Union. A threat that could accelerate the end of free motorways in Europe.

• A European directive forces 8 countries to make their motorways toll roads under penalty of sanctions
• Prices are already exploding in several countries, up to +30% in Germany and Hungary
• Cross-border workers and tourists will also be particularly affected

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