BRUSELAS, 21 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The European Commission confirmed this Thursday the request of the Spanish Government to eliminate the introduction of tolls on motorways in 2024 from the recovery plan, and although the services of the Community Executive are still working on their evaluation, they have assured that the progress is “satisfactory” .
For its part, the Government assures that it is already closing the last threads of the negotiations to definitively eliminate this commitment.
“A lot of satisfactory progress has been made and constructive conversations are being held with the Spanish authorities with a view to finalizing the evaluation as soon as possible,” confirmed the Commission’s Economy spokesperson, Veerle Nuyts, at a press conference.
The spokesperson also recalled that the conclusion of the evaluation of the revised plan, which will mobilize an additional 94 billion euros for Spain, will be communicated as soon as community services reach that phase.
Brussels already confirmed in July that the initial toll measure appeared in the Spanish recovery plan that was approved by both Brussels and the member states and was linked, specifically, to the disbursement of the fifth tranche, which amounts to more than 8,000 million euros.
However, this past Tuesday, the acting Minister of Transport, Raquel Sánchez, pointed out in the European Parliament that “the conditions that existed at the time the measure was presented are not the same as today.”
For this reason, from the portfolio headed by Raquel Sánchez they claim to be “optimistic” regarding the final result of the negotiations: “The Commission is analyzing our approach and there is a shared vision that allows us to be optimistic, but we still do not have an official response from the Commission”.
Because if a measure is eliminated without alternatives validated by Brussels, it could mean a cut in funds, Sánchez recalled that the Government has presented to the Commission a series of “alternative proposals” to the deployment of tolls that seek to “reinforce” other measures that have already been applied and among which he highlighted the efforts to encourage public and rail transport.
