German government wants ex-minister to foot $267 million bill for a failed highway toll plan

BERLIN (AP) — The German government is considering whether it can make former Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer foot at least part of the quarter-billion euro compensation it has to pay a private company over a failed plan to introduce highway tolls. Scheuer, who was in office from 2018 until 2021, had insisted on the total despite expert warnings that it would unfairly penalize drivers from other EU countries. A European Union court ruled it illegal in 2019, prompting a lengthy arbitration procedure with the company hired to set up the toll system that ended in a $267-million settlement last week. Scheuer’s successor told German weekly Bild am Sonntag that taxpayers shouldn’t have to bear all of the cost of the mistake and compensation claims are being examined.