The annual increase in motorway prices should remain “reasonable” at the start of 2023, the Minister Delegate for Transport said on Friday on franceinfo.
I want a reasonable increase but it will not be in the order of magnitude of 7-8%, indicated Clément Beaune.
The pages of the motorways increase every year, generally on February 1, according to a calculation which takes into account the rate of inflation and the work undertaken by the concession companies.
According to the daily Le Monde, motorway companies have mentioned an increase of up to 8% during ongoing discussions with the Minister of Transport. The price increase was 2% on average this year.
If we applied things automatically, we would potentially be on very high increases, in this order of magnitude, and that would be unsustainable, Mr. Beaune told the radio.
The president of the LR senators Bruno Retailleau said on Friday he was amazed by the indecency of the motorway companies which are demanding an 8% increase in pages in 2023.
In full crisis of purchasing power of the French already strangled by the price of gasoline (…) this demand is scandalous, estimated Mr. Retailleau in a press release.
The Minister of Transport stressed that the use of the car will cost more, it is inevitable, in the years to come. But what we pay to the motorways is investment, I don’t want them to stop investing in safety, he underlined.
Bruno Retailleau, president of the LR group in the Senate and candidate for the presidency of the party, indicated for his part that he wanted to rebalance the outrageously favorable conditions which these companies benefited from when the state granted them our public motorway service.
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Mr. Retailleau tabled a bill last year to review the contracts of motorway companies and ensure a balanced sharing of profits between users, licensing authorities and concessionaires. This text has not yet been placed on the agenda of the Senate.
The main motorway networks made a small gesture this summer by granting up to 25 euros reduction on the expenses of paid pages in holiday vouchers, while the rise in fuel prices weighed down the holiday budget.
After having reached 5.8% this year, inflation will evolve next year in a range between 4.2% and 6.9%, according to projections.