Anger as Belgium plans to introduce motorway tax charge

Dutch motorists’ organisation ANWB is up in arms about plans by Belgium to introduce a special tax for foreign motorway users to raise money for road repairs.

Everyone with a foreign car planning to drive through Belgium by motorway would have to pay the tax, based on 10 days, two months or one year. The price has not yet been made public but the ANWB says the annual fee could be €100.

Belgium plans to use the money raised from the charge to carry out essential repairs to its road network. If agreed in the Belgian parliament, the charge will be introduced from 2016.

The ANWB says the southern Dutch provinces of Zeeland, Noord-Brabant and Limburg will be hardest hit. The organisation is ‘totally opposed to the explosion of toll systems and stickers needed to drive through Europe’.

It is also unclear if the plan is compatible with EU legislation, ANWB director Guido van Woerkom told news agency ANP.

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