François Piquemal, MP for Toulouse, calls for freeways to be made during the holidays
By Guillaume Laurent
Published on
To support purchasing power, should we make momentarily free highways, before dismantling the toll gates, as our Spanish neighbors have just done in Catalonia? Invitation on the set of BFM-TV about soaring prices at the pump, Francois Piquemal one called monday 1uh August 2022 at “regain control of our highways, so that they cost less to the taxpayers”.
The deputy (LFI-Nupes) of the 4e constituency of Haute-Garonne pleads for “a first step” in this process: “Free motorways during the school holidays “. Asked by Toulouse News, the parliamentarian persists and signs. He sees in this “personal proposal” a measure of “purchasing power”.
Tolls? “It’s a brake to go on vacation”
“No one is satisfied that the highways have been handed over to private interests“, advances the deputy, who defends: “Take the road, it has become a hassle for many people “. Taking the example of a Paris-Toulouse route by car, the one who is still a municipal councilor for the Pink City believes that the staggering price of tolls is a real obstacle to going on vacation.
“I am elected from Toulouse, and if you want to do a Paris-Toulouse by car, it’s 50 euros one way on the motorway, in addition to the price of petrol… There are a lot of people for whom it’s a brake in order to go on vacation”.
Free during the holidays, “a first step”
From increase to increase, tolls have become “one of the main charges for people who are on vacation”. Today, it costs less to fly Toulouse-Lisbon by plane than Toulouse-Marseille by car”. A question which, in his eyes, “is raised in an increased way in an inflationary period”. Hence his idea:
“At first, we could ask shareholders to make the motorways free during school vacation periods”.
in full “inflationary crisis”insists the deputy, “this gesture would be a bare minimum to allow many people to go on vacation, and thus reinject money into the popular economy”.
Motorways back in the fold of the public sector?
twenty and after the privatization of highwaysinitiated in the early 2000s by the Jospin government and requested by his successors, “we see today the fiasco », judges the deputy. And for him, it’s time to step back.
“If we look at what is being done elsewhere, France is lagging behind: other countries, such as Spain, Italy, or even Great Britain, have implemented taxes on superprofits. motorways, in particular, should be overtaxed: 24 billion euros in dividends have been paid to their shareholders since the concessions were put in place… It is time that this money really goes into the public good”.
After this “stage” on the holiday route, François Piquemal calls for “taking back control of our highways, so that they cost taxpayers less”. For him, the due must go further: “The assignment contracts all come to an end within 10 to 15 years. You have to watch contract by contract for a public retrocession, as has been done in Catalonia”.
In this sense, the parliamentarian takes up a flagship proposal by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who had called for “the nationalization of highways” during the presidential campaign. A measure that also appears in the Nupes program since the Legislature. “These motorway companies are not participating in the collective effort”, sighs the deputy. Beyond the only tolls, he sees in it “a question of sharing wealth”.
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