Brussels, 16/05/2012 (Agence Europe) - The Association Transport & Environment is not in favour of Sweden's recent authorisation for trucks which are even heavier and longer than mega trucks. Trucks 30 m long and weighing 90 t have been authorised since April between the cities of Gothenberg and Malmö (previously, they were only allowed in the north of the country), even given that mega trucks, which are currently the cause of controversy, measure "just" 24 m and weigh in at 60 tonnes. In the view of T&E, this sends out a very bad signal just as the Commission is talking of reinterpreting the legislation on the weights and dimensions of trucks.
This new reading would leave it up to the Member States to decide whether or not to authorise the cross-border use of mega trucks. In such cases, the dimension is authorised in Sweden indicate that there would no longer be any limits at all on the size of trucks in Europe.
The deputy director of T&E, Nina Renshaw, explains the association's dismay at trucks of this scale: "this shows that the Commission has not thought this through (…). They are now at the border with Denmark, so if the Commission decides it can allow mega trucks because its rules do not limit lorry sizes, then any size of lorry can be permitted, and we'd have 90-tonne lorries crossing between Sweden on Denmark on the first day they're allowed!".
The European Commissioner for Transport intended to write to the 27 reinterpreting European legislation, to the great surprise of the committee on transport of the European Parliament, before which Siim Kallas had to explain himself in March. The letter is still outstanding and may be sent after an additional meeting between the MEPs and the Commissioner in late May. (MD/transl.fl)