The Walloon region has put the idea of an additional road tax back on the agenda, with a proposal in its new governmental accord to impose a vignette system on its roads
Wallonia announced its government’s coalition agreement yesterday, following the elections of 9 June. Among the 112-page document is one proposal that is making headlines today: A new vignette system that would require anyone travelling on roads in the region to buy a permit.
The vignette system is used by several European countries for residents and tourists alike. It requires motorists to buy a permit – sometimes in the form of a sticker placed on the windshield, sometimes electronically – that allows them to drive on the country’s roads.
Often vignettes are only required when driving on motorways. There are generally annual permits as well as shorter-term permits for visitors. The vignette system is used in lieu of toll roads, such as those seen in France and Italy.
We are not in favour of different systems among the regions. That is rather absurd
Danny Smagghe, Touring
According to the coalition agreement, the Walloon government would like to “involve drivers in the quality of the Walloon road network that they use”. It is not clear in the written agreement how residents of the region would be compensated, but the leader of liberal party MR, George-Louis Bouchez, told RTBF that the cost would be subtracted from residents’ annual road tax.
There is no guarantee that Flanders, however, would be compensating its road taxpayers, which is where the problem arises, according to Danny Smagghe of roadside assistance service Touring. “We are not in favour of different systems among the regions,” he says. “That is rather absurd. We need to be looking at a uniform system for the entire country.”
But Maxime Prévot, head of the Les Engagés party – forming the majority in the new Walloon government together with MR – does not agree. “The south of the country does not always have to dance to the tune of the north,” he told RTL. A vignette would be ideal for the entire country, he said, but otherwise “Wallonia will introduce it on its own”.
Bouchez added that “it is certainly reasonable to tax the tens of thousands of foreign vehicles that drive on our roads every year and currently pay nothing.” Wallonia, he continued, “is beautiful and hospitable, but it’s not abnormal to pay a little for services that we use.”
Bouchez also mentioned that “it was not the intention for the rest of Belgium’s motorists to have to pay” and that he had made contact with Brussels regional authorities to discuss the matter. He did not mention Flanders by name.
Smagghe said that his organisation is much more in favour of a kilometre levy “in function of when, where and how far motorists drive.”
In any case, this is not the first time a region has proposed an additional fee to use Belgium’s roads. Discussions on the subject been ongoing for more than 20 years. So far a system has never been imposed.