Road pricing in the European Union: direct revenue transfer between countries

In 2011 the ‘Eurovignette’ directive on distance-based road pricing in Europe was finally passed by the European Parliament and the European Council. Although this will bring benefits to the environment and contribute towards financing the cost of maintaining road infrastructure, it will also have negative effects on trade because of the increased costs of accessing markets. This study measures the transfer of revenue (spatial spillovers) derived from the introduction of the Eurovignette directive using a Geographic Information System (GIS). A spatial spillover matrix is obtained that reflects the cost of toll fees on exports paid by each country for the use of roads in each of the other countries. From this spillover matrix between countries and calculation of the repercussion of the fees on the final price of exports, it is possible to know which countries are winners and which are losers as a consequence of introducing a common road pricing policy.JRC.J.1-Economics of Climate Change, Energy and Transpor