Highway vignette is on the table again in Wallonia: control will be done via ANPR cameras, only they are there

The highway vignette that Wallonia wants to introduce becomes a bit more concrete. It will be an e-vignette for a day, ten days, a month or a year. The control would be done through the ANPR cameras, as is already the case in Flanders in the low emission zones (LEZ). However, the introduction will not be for tomorrow.

The new Walloon government wants to introduce the road vignette to have all road users, foreigners and Belgians pay for the use of the Walloon roads. That can be read in the coalition agreement that MR and Les Engagés have proposed.

Walloon Mobility Minister François Desquesnes (Les Engagés) says that the plan that has been mature for twenty years is gradually starting to take more concrete forms. To add immediately that the introduction is not for tomorrow. And that no rates have even been agreed yet. And also about possible compensations for Walloon drivers, which was previously promised, he does not mention a word.

Read too. Wallonia extends its hand to Flanders for road vignette: how much chance does that have? And what about kilometer charge?

According to Desquesnes there is consultation with the Flemish government and soon also with the Brussels government as it will finally be there. Because preferably they would like a system for the whole of Belgium. But the shoe is already pinching there. Flanders was previously won for smart kilometer tax, pay for how much is being driven.

So there is not a long agreement, but the minister already knows how it could go practically, he said at RTL. « The e-vignette could be requested digitally or via the number 1718, the call center of the Walloon government. »

ANPR cameras

According to Dequesnes, the control via ANPR cameras for number place recognition should be done and by manned patrols. But the rates are not yet fixed. Nor the sanctions for offenders. In addition: if one wants to use the ANPR cameras to check the highway vignette, one will have to go a step, because of all the ANPR cameras in our country, only about 20 percent are on Walloon territory.

In Switzerland and Austria, however, the system has been around for years, drivers have to buy a vignette there. France has the péage. With us there is still doubt between a vignette or a smart kilometer charge. The two is also possible, one in Flanders and the other in Wallonia.

In principle, the regions have the authority to introduce a kilometer charge in our country, and to lower or increase the traffic taxes. But plans for a kilometer charge from one region always provoked criticism from the other regions. Whether the Walloon road vignette will really come is also waiting.

Brussels kilometer charge

The Brussels government approved the plan in 2020 for the Brussels kilometer charge, which was named ‘SmartMove’. Anyone who would ride in Brussels from 2022 should pay a kilometer charge. That levy was based on the number of kilometers driven and the time of the relocation. But it didn’t get any further than a test phase.

In Flanders, the then Minister of Mobility Ben Weyts (N-VA) was still in favor of a smart kilometer charge in 2016, but he changed shoulder in the run-up to the 2019 elections. He then indicated that there was too little support for the population. Minister of Mobility Lydia Peeters (Open VLD) tried to resuscitate the idea of ​​her predecessor. But it became a blow again in the water.

If you want to go to Durbuy or Liège this summer, you shouldn’t worry too much. Not yet for next year.