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Andreas Scheuer has contradicted the toll operators
Photo: JOHN MACDOUGALL / AFP
Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU) has rejected central allegations in the clarification of the burst car toll.
Scheuer said on Thursday evening as a witness in the investigative committee that at a meeting in November 2018 with managers of the operating companies that would later be planned, 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 a signing date when it was not even foreseeable whether an agreement could be reached at all.
In November 2018, Scheuer spoke to managers of the companies who were awarded the contract to collect the car toll at the end of 2018.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) overturned the car toll in June 2019 because it disadvantaged drivers from abroad.
The head of the consortium partner CTS Eventim, Klaus-Peter Schulenberg, had previously said in the committee that he had offered in the conversation in November 2018, also in view of open financing issues, to wait until the ECJ ruling before signing the contract.
Scheuer decidedly rejected the offer.
The minister said that the start of the car toll in the election year 2021 would be unacceptable and that the toll should start in 2020, said Schulenberg.
Scheuer made it clear that there were various reports in the ministry that "unanimously and crystal clear" classified the car toll as compliant with EU law.
The head of the Austrian toll specialist Kapsch, Georg Kapsch, also confirmed this version.
During the conversation on November 29, 2018, in view of open financial questions, Schulenberg offered that if time was needed, one could also wait for the ECJ ruling.
"The minister refused," said Kapsch.
Scheuer is accused of having concluded the contracts at the end of 2018 before there was legal certainty.
The opposition also accuses Scheuer of lying in the Bundestag in September 2019.
Scheuer now confirmed his statement made at the time that postponing the signing of the contract was not an issue at the meeting in November 2018.
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bam / dpa
