On Wednesday 15 February during a Committee of Permanent Representatives to the EU (Coreper I) meeting, the Maltese President of the Council of the EU added a point relating to “any other business” to be included in the Competitiveness Council agenda on 20 February.
The information note was rather evasively entitled “Competitiveness of the Single Market of the EU” and was put forward by Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia. Once again, these member states highlight certain provisions in the road haulage sector introduced by certain member states, particularly France and Germany (see EUROPE 11574). They consider these mechanisms introduced by the latter have a negative impact on the effective functioning of the internal market, particularly with regard to the free movement of workers and merchandise.
The request appears incongruous to seven member states, including France, Italy and Austria, who were surprised to see such a point included in the Competitiveness Council agenda, when this Council involves transport related policy. The nine member states justify their demand by the fact that the Council meeting on transport is a significant period after (8 June) the Maltese Presidency’s decision to cancel the transport Council on 24 February (see EUROPE 11726).
The Maltese Presidency therefore agreed to the request made by the nine member states but explained that this is simply a point of information and not a debate.
The member states continue to tear themselves apart on the question of social dumping in this sector (EUROPE 11716, 11680) and this battle could get worse over the next few months: the European Commission is planning on a market access initiative in the road sector at the end of May (this is highly likely to be on 31 May). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)