BERLIN (AP) – The German government is considering whether it can make former Transport minister Andreas Scheuer foot at least part of the quarter-billion-euro compensation it has to pay a private company over a failed plan to introduce highway tolls.
Scheuer, who was in office from 2018 until 2021, insisted on the total despite expert warnings that it would unfairly penalise drivers from other European Union (EU) countries. An EU court ruled it illegal in 2019, prompting a lengthy arbitration procedure with the company hired to set up the toll system that ended in a USD267-million settlement last week.
Scheuer’s successor, Volker Wissing, told German weekly Bild am Sonntag taxpayers shouldn’t have to bear the cost of “this serious political mistake”.
“We will look the legal situation very closely and carefully examine whether and to what amount compensation claims (against Scheuer) are possible,” he was quoted saying yesterday.
