Spanish government explores new ways to pay for motorways without imposing tolls

The Spanish government is exploring options on how to best finance the country's motorways without imposing tolls. The Minister of Transport, Raquel Sánchez, said the government was "renegotiating" with the European Commission a proposal to introduce tolls on motorways by 2024, included in the last Stability Plan sent to Brussels.

In the plan it stated that "it is necessary to develop a system of payment for use of the high-capacity road network to cover maintenance costs and integrate externalities".

"It is true that at first we were considering this option," Sánchez said, "but we saw that it is unfeasible because there is neither political consensus nor the conditions". The government is now in talks with Brussels over the best financing model for the country's highways.

'There is time to do it'

The Minister of Transport said that the Government will propose a system to the Commission "in accordance with our commitment", but said that "it is not yet defined" and "there is still time" to finalise a proposal.

Raquel Sánchez said she believed the current model, whereby the maintenance of the highways is charged to the General State Budget "does not make sense" and is different from the one applied in many other European countries.