Few obstacles are expected to beset the Transport Council in Luxembourg on Thursday 8 June. The Council will be chaired by the Estonian Minister for the Economy and Infrastructure, Kadri Simson.
Professional driving qualifications and training. The first question on the table will be the draft revision of directive 2003/59/EC on qualifications and training for lorry, bus and coach drivers and for which the Council of the Union is expected to adopt a position of political principle. As explained to EUROPE by one European source, following the work carried out at the working groups, few problems are expected to emerge in this technical text.
The European Commission’s proposal of last February (see EUROPE 11716) is looking at several different points. It initially seeks to harmonise training for lorry, bus and coach drivers, to a certain extent, as well as ensure that their training is recognised in the European Union states.
On the latter point, the Commission is proposing to award qualification cards to foreign drivers. It would also like to foster greater online learning and raise awareness among lorry drivers regarding respect for the environment, fuel use and animal welfare. The Commission is suggesting continuous training based on road safety.
This will only involve the Council adopting a political position because the Parliament has not yet given in its opinion regarding the text.
Maritime transport priorities from now up to 2020. On the issue of non-legislative points on the agenda, ministers will formally adopt the conclusions on the Union’s maritime transport policy priorities up to 2020. These aim to endorse the priorities included in the Valetta Declaration of 29 March last and adopted by competent ministers on the Union’s maritime policy (see EUROPE 11760). On this issue, there does not seem to be any particular frictions between the different ministers either.
The Valletta Declaration highlights the need to strengthen connectivity, digitisation and autonomy in the maritime sector, as well as the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to respect the Paris Agreement. This will be done, “in view of guaranteeing global connectivity, an efficient internal market and a first-rate maritime pole of activity”.
Conclusions on road safety. Ministers will also look at the conclusions on road safety and therefore endorse the Valletta Declaration of 29 March on improving road safety (see EUROPE 11757). Despite a number of clarifications that Germany may provide regarding the definition of “seriously injured”, this text is expected to be adopted without any major difficulty by the ministers.
On the basis of the above-mentioned Valletta Declaration, the member states are therefore expected to make a commitment to continuing their efforts to reduce the numbers of people killed on the roads by half for the 2010-20 period and then by a further half for 2020-2030. This will be done by way of strengthened cooperation between the member states, taking into account cyclists and pedestrians in mobility policies and, “introducing connected automated vehicles that are compatible and interoperable and which have proven advantages in terms of security, as indicated in the Amsterdam Declaration and Commission strategy on intelligent cooperative transport systems”
To achieve this aim, the member states are inviting the European Commission and industry to take part in these efforts.
“Mobility” package to be discussed briefly. The other thing to be discussed by the ministers will include the “mobility” package presented last week by the European Commission (see EUROPE 11799), but this is not expected to be the focal point of the subjects for discussion. The national delegations are only expecting to spend a minute on this subject when speaking and formulating their observations in this regard. The participants at the meeting will also discuss the follow-up to the Amsterdam Declaration on connected vehicles (see EUROPE 11532), as well as the European strategy promoting cycling and rail traffic management in the Union. Ministers will ultimately be informed about the progress made in the most recent trialogues, particularly regarding recognition of vocational qualifications in the internal navigation sector and the one on reform of European aviation security. The most recent meeting on this subject on Tuesday 6 June did not manage to settle the differences between the different parties. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)