The truck of an Italian NGO that was delivering relief supplies to the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk was stopped on Tuesday on its way home on the southern highway (A2) in Carinthia, just before the Italian border, and fined. Asfinag has now announced that the replacement toll claim for aid organization Budoni Soccorso will be withdrawn.
The president of the NGO Budoni Soccorso, Giacinto Congiu, had already announced that he would object to the sentence. The aid agency has also called on Italian President Sergio Mattarella to contact Austrian authorities.
NGO president calls for ‘guarantee’
“We demand a formal apology from the Austrian highway company and a guarantee that such incidents will never happen again. Without this guarantee, humanitarian missions in Ukraine cannot be resumed,” Congiu said earlier. The NGO has not pre-registered the aid transport for the required toll exemption. .
General toll exemption for aid transport Ukraine
Currently, there is in principle a toll exemption for aid transport to Ukraine on the Austrian highways and expressways. “Of course that also applies in this case. For this reason, Asfinag will contact the aid organization Budoni Soccorso directly and withdraw the replacement toll request,” said Asfinag.
Asfinag obeys and “apologies to the aid organization in all forms”. At the same time, it is pointed out that “Asfinag was one of the first infrastructure managers to ever grant toll exemptions for transports of humanitarian aid to Ukraine”.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
