This tax project remains in their way. It is better to avoid this Monday the main roads and around the large Alsatian towns where road hauliers are heading, by the dozens and at slow speed, towards the headquarters of the European Community of Alsace in Colmar.
At the initiative of the National Federation of Road Transport in Alsace (FNTR), snail operations converge from Mulhouse in the south and Strasbourg in the north of the territory towards the CEA. Joined by farmers from the FDSEA 68 and 67, the Young Farmers of Haut-Rhin and Bas-Rhin, the Association of Winegrowers of Alsace and the Grand-Est Agricultural Cooperation, all denounce a tax on heavy goods vehicles of more than 3.5 tonnes, which would further weaken a sector of activity which is encountering great difficulties.
This tax is the R-Pass, the principle of which must be adopted during the plenary session of the ECA next October 21. A heavy goods vehicle tax project that Alsace wishes to introduce in 2027 to alleviate its roads, overloaded in particular by the transfer of traffic to its territory from Germany where the roads are tolled for heavy goods vehicles. A tax which in Alsace worries economic players. The latter has in fact recorded an 18% increase in the number of heavy goods vehicles on its roads since the increase in the fee on the German side at the end of 2023, with even a peak of + 30% in August.
“All sectors will be impacted”
In reaction to this Alsatian tax project carried by the CEA, a “Collective for the competitiveness of the Alsatian economy” addressed the Minister for Transport, François Durovray, who, Thursday in Strasbourg, gave his support to the Alsatian community. According to “the proposal from the Collectivity of Alsace today, if I understood correctly, they are 15 cents per kilometer, where in Germany, we are three or four times more,” asks François Durovray. “We have not yet been able to show the benefit that our fellow citizens could derive from it. I’m not saying that we’re going to find the solution just like that, but we have to work on it,” the delegate minister argued on Thursday.
Support for the CEA project to which the economic association emphasizes that “it is important to clarify that it is not only the transporters who are firmly opposed to this measure, but all of the economic sectors in Alsace, who are up in arms about this tax,” recalls the economic association. “All sectors, whatever they may be, will be seriously impacted by this tax, well beyond the transport sector, all the way to the purchasing power of consumers. »
“The consultations continue”
“The concerns of Alsatian economic circles are being taken into account,” reminds the CEA as soon as it can. “The consultation will continue from Monday, and each time we take advantage of the comments to improve the system,” explains Frédéric Bierry, recalling having already reduced the portion of road which will be taxed, going from the 500 kilometers initially planned to 200 kilometers.
Applied mainly on the A35, the tax would bring in 64 million euros per year, half of which would come from transit traffic, according to a study.