Jul

The debate of liberty vs. pollution. An Austrian case

Posted by admin Published in Legislation and Policy

The Alps are really a beautiful spot right in the middle of Europe. They are plus spread among several countries, like France, Italy, Switzerland, Liechtestein, Germany and Austria which made essential the deployment of transport infrastructure crossing the mountains. However, the environment protection for such a fragile spot is a very hardy question. For instance, Switzerland (a country that does not belong to the EU) banned heavy trucks from crossing the country and they have to be loaded onto train wagons to travel from France to Germany.

The case now is the Tirol regional government, in Austria, that has banned old and polluting heavy trucks (and those carrying positive “dirty” loads) from driving through a stretch of the A-12 highway amidst Munich (Germany) to Innsbruck (Austria). that is a key road considering the A-12 the spine of the road communications amidst Italy and Germany.

Nevertheless the European Union has said no to the Tirolese government.

In words of Jacques Barrot, Vicepresident of the European Transport Comission, “The Comission is aware of the difficulties Alpine countries have to protect the environment and their citizens’ health. However, such a limitation on traffic is not compatible with the European legislation.” He additionally asked the government to work on improving all vehicle emissions, considering the problem is not limited to heavy trucks on a positive stretch of road, but the pollutants that hundreds of thousands of heavy trucks emit in Europe on a daily basis.

(The photo shows the village of Lermoos, in Tirol, Austria)

[Source: Agencies via Moteurnature]

Original post by Xavier Navarro