Motorists who hoped that the freezing of toll rates - unilaterally declared by the government in late January - would continue until the end of the year will be disappointed. As part of the marathon negotiations for four months with the concession companies, public authorities have finally agreed that they revalue their rates this year of 0.57% on average. This figure, revealed Monday by RTL, was also claimed by a source in the "echoes". It could apply on 1 May or June 1st. Monday night, the entourage of Emmanuel Macron, the Minister of Economy, nevertheless told AFP that "no agreement was reached at this stage."
If confirmed, this increase should assert his share of criticism of the government. The amount of 0.57% is indeed that the dealers had submitted to the state in late November 2015, on the basis of the adjustment formula contained in the contract. But at the time, the Minister of Ecology, Segolene Royal, had rebelled against the proposal, the ruling "unacceptable" and promised that "we will not give [it] not such authorization."
Two months later, she still claimed that "it would be scandalous to increase tariffs highways while EVOLU countries [ed] in a context of crisis." At the time of final arbitration, dealers have finally been successful on the strict implementation of concession agreements. Motorists may console themselves by noting that this increase is the lowest in recent years (in 2014 it was 1.29%).
The question of the toll increase was among the topics that were blocking the signing date of the agreement between the dealers and the government ("Les Echos" from March 10). But according to our information, there are still others. Monday night, discussions were continuing actively, hoping to be able to make an announcement Wednesday at the Council of Ministers, or Thursday at the General Meeting of the National Federation of Public Works (FNTP).
BTP professionals demanding for months that the state and the dealers found common ground: the agreement provides that the State highway sign the stimulus package, amounting to 3.2 billion euros, which would boost their business. The creation of an investment fund of several hundred million euros, fueled by the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations and dealers to finance the construction of transport infrastructure is black cohosh. But negotiations stalled over the level of contribution to the fund highway, blocking the entire agreement.