France has decided to cancel a multi-million pound contract with the Atlantia-led Ecomouv consortium after canceling the road toll known as ecotax, which the consortium was required to collect.
"The Government has decided to close the partnership agreement with Ecomouv", the toll system for the eco-tax on trucks, signed on 20 October 2011. Alain Vidalies, French Minister of Transport, announced it to the Senate, specifying that the letter of cancellation will explain "the doubts about the validity of the contract in the light of the constitutional rules that apply to the State when the management of some activities is entrusted to private individuals".
On the basis of the agreements signed in June, "the Government can notify Ecomouv, by 31 October 2014, of its intention to abandon the project through a consensual resolution - wrote the Atlantia board of directors in the report dated 17 October last on the interim dividend - , paying the same the indemnities agreed therein, which provide for the full recovery of the investment made by the company".
According to rumors, the indemnity should amount to around 900 million euros.
