La Línea 'decongestion tax' to be 'around €5'

(Photo: RTVE)At a press conference this afternoon, La Línea Mayor Alejandro Sánchez announced that traffic to and from the border with Gibraltar will begin to be 'reorganized' tomorrow, Tuesday, with a view to applying what he called a 'tax' (as opposed to a 'toll') that would not 'be over €5'. The tax, he said, would begin to be applied in about 60 days -mid-October- when the administrative paperwork was completed. It is as yet unclear whether the tax would be applied to Gibraltar residents, but it would not to Spanish workers on the Rock.  Sánchez was careful to make clear that the only people certain to be exempt will be persons resident in La Linea of whatever EU nationality. Gibraltarians may now have to pay to visit Spain, but the mayor said he wanted to maintain good relations with Gibraltar, so the matter is 'on the table'. A more 'radical' tax>

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would be set for heavy vehicles, in particular for gravel and stone lorries that supply Gibraltar with  landfill material that, according to Sánchez, is 'seriously damaging our coastline.'

 

The mayor, who said he had a 'sufficient majority' to pass the proposal in Council, added that he could not see why, with the Rock having become a major online betting centre needing fibre optic cable facilties that have been authorized by the central government, La Línea should not benefit at all from that and other issues.

 

That last includes his intention of reclaiming a road that Spain ceded in 1985 to 'shield' Gibraltar and which runs along the frontier. Asked about why he intended to start proceedings on this subject, Sánchez answered that he wanted to find out what had lead the Felipe González government to do such a thing. (The matter was dealt with in the Brussels accord of that same year.)

Alejandro Sánchez (PP) said that these decisions are motivated by the 'neglect' with which the central government has held La Línea since 2003, when it (PSOE) froze a Special Economy Charter that, he says, mean €30 million to the town. He added that La Línea is owed this money since then.

Accompanied by most of his government team, Sánchez pointed out that there were several 'clear examples' of the decongestion tax he is proposing. "It is absolutely not a toll, but a tax," he repeated several times, pointing to London, Stockholm, Riga and Trodheim as these examples. At the same time, he said, it is covered by the Ley de Economías Locales (Local Finance Laws), 'various communitary laws', as well as 'European jurisprudence'.

Close to the endof the press conference, Mayor Sánchez said that he was awaiting a reply from the central government, adding that "it would be shameful for us to be taken to the tribunal in Luxembourg," but he was 'ready for any contingency'.