Brussels, 18/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - By attempting to exclusively reinterpret European legislation that allows for the use of cross-border longer trucks, Siim Kallas, the European commissioner for transport, is at risk of provoking the anger of MEPs. The chairman of the parliamentary committee on transport, Brian Simpson (S&D, United Kingdom), threatened both legal and political action in response to the commissioner's determination to act unilaterally. Although the European Parliament has shown its teeth on the Schengen case (see other article), the situation regarding longer trucks appears to have somewhat embarrassed MEPs, who have been discussing it more as a matter of form under the re-reading carried out than in substance.
In a letter addressed to the Council and Brian Simpson, the commissioner confirmed last week (EUROPE 10635) his intention of leaving it up to member states to decide whether to open up their borders or not to these longer trucks. The commissioner had already made a report back to Parliament last February on this issue (EUROPE 10564).
Parliament was surprised at this reinterpretation of the legislation despite the fact that it had not been involved in the rethink plans, and the chairman of the EP transport committee immediately responded. Simpson explained that, “the EP will act to protect its right on this issue under co-decision. Your decision is challengeable both politically and in law” and that legal and political action was therefore envisaged. He also alerted the president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, and put the issue on the agenda of the coordinators' meeting. The decision by Commissioner Kallas is even more debatable given that a review of the directive in question is planned by the end of the year (although this is for other reasons). Nonetheless, the commissioner explained in his statement that this review would provide the appropriate occasion for the institutions to discuss the matter again.
At this stage, the debates on the longer trucks do not focus on the content of the re-reading of legislation, which is carried out by the Commission services, and only look at the form that this re-reading takes. Dieter-Lebrecht Koch (EPP, Germany) is a supporter of this kind of heavy-duty vehicle but also regretted that Parliament had not been involved in the decisions made by the commissioner.
A coalition of transport organisations (Campaign for Better Transport, Railway and Infrastructure Companies, the European Cyclists' Federation, and European Automobile Clubs), took a position on this showdown between the Commission and Parliament and stated that, “Any changes to existing law should be made as a result of a fair and open discussion through the co-decision process - not through unilateral changes by commissioners that are then open to legal challenges… It clearly does not make sense to reinterpret the law now, 16 years after it was originally passed and only six months before a revision is to be proposed.” (MD/trans/fl)