DGT insists dual carriageway tolls will arrive next year despite denials by Spanish president
Brussels is insisting that Spain implement tolls on all high-capacity roads by 2024
As the general election creeps closer the debates are heating up and this week the latest controversy has surrounded the long-threatened introduction of tolls on dual carriageways and other high-capacity roads in Spain.
On July 23, current president of the Spanish government will go head to head with PP candidate Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who on Monday July 10 accused his opponent of “lying” about the toll roads.
As Feijóo explained, Brussels has continuously insisted that Spain must introduce some kind of pay per use systems on the busier roads by next year, but the Minister of Transport batted away the unpopular topic by “categorically denying that the government is thinking of imposing tolls for the use of roads”.
Head of Spain’s General Directorate of Traffic (DGT), Pere Navarro, was taken aback by this comment and came down on the side of the PP candidate, explaining that by “next year, by imposition of Brussels, we will have to build tolls, Brussels demands it of us”.
However, facing backlash from all sides, the DGT boss quickly back-pedalled and said that it’s really not his call, creating even more confusion.
So, will Spain have tolls on dual carriageways in 2024 or not? The short answer is that nobody is quite sure. It’s true that the EU has stipulated the government must do more to cover the costs of road maintenance by charging users, but only a few months ago the Ministry said they would delay the implementation until the financial climate stabilises.
Most countries in Europe already apply some sort of charge on their roads, but according to the transport minister, the government has informed Brussels about the delay and the EU powers that be “understand” that “this is not the time” to further burden the nation financially.
Whether it’s next year or the year after, the fact of the matter is that Spain will need to honour its commitment to the Transformation and Resilience Plan by developing tolls at some point if it is to continue to benefit from the 140 billion euros in European funds.
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