During a public hearing jointly organised by the European Parliament employment and transport committees on Monday 16 October, civil society organisations expressed their concerns about the social aspects of the “mobility” package.
The debate with MEPs took place while the employment committee was voting that day on the revision of the directive on posted workers (see other article) and again shed light on the different interpretations and positions surrounding the European Commission’s proposals of 31 May last (see EUROPE 11799) involving difficulties linked to postings, cabotage and road transport workers’ rest times within the context of the “mobility” package. Although road sector stakeholders representing opposing interests welcomed some of the progress suggested by the Commission, they all held different views on what proposals they considered should be improved.
Evy Van der Paelt, representing the European Road Haulers Association (UETR), therefore requested clarification about the notion of transit, which is excluded from the current proposal and is also the subject of a request for clarification from the Estonian Presidency of the Council of the European Union (see EUROPE 11880). She also indicated that if the proposals are adopted, they would hinder small and medium-sized enterprises due to the administrative costs they would generate. This argument was also used by Maciej Wronski, representing the Transport and Logistics Poland organisation.
Roberto Parrillo from the European Transport Workers Federation (ETF) and Dirk Engelhardt, representing German road hauliers at the Logistics and Waste Disposal Federation, highlighted the tough working conditions that transport workers currently have to confront. They also expressed concerns that the future texts would not improve these workers’ rest or hygiene conditions. They also expressed doubts that if the texts were adopted as they currently stood, there would be a real chance that European lorry drivers would experience different treatment and pay. Jaime Rodríguez Medal from CONFEBUS (Confederación Española de Transporte en Autobús), called for a clear separation of passenger and goods transport.
Although the demands and concerns expressed by the different interlocutors were not the same, there appeared to be a consensus about inspecting the rules – this is a delicate question for MEPs (see EUROPE 11811). The major part of the protagonists therefore called for the swift implementation of smart tachographs and improved respect of current and future rules. Mr Parillo even expressed his wish that all vehicles were equipped with them as from June 2019. This is despite the fact that under the proposals presented by the European Commission, the obligation for equipping all heavy-duty vehicles with smart tachographs is not effective until 2034.
The interlocutors were finally questioned by MEPs, particular about setting up a European road agency, by the President of the transport committee Karima Delli (Greens/EFA, France) and with regard to establishing a black list of companies guilty of social dumping. This question was asked by Inés Ayala Sander (S&D, Spain), in an effort to ensure better respect of European Union law. With regard to the question about the European road agency, Mr Parrillo pointed out that his organisation had been calling for this agency to be set up years ago, when Mr Medal appeared open to the idea, on the condition that it had an adequate and sufficient budget. Setting up a blacklist should, according to Ms der Paelt, be subject to a clear definition of the notion of social dumping, which Kosma Zlotowsky and (ECR, Poland) and Maria Grapini (S&D, Italy) both supported. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)