At a debate organised by the MEPs Helga Stevens and Mark Demesmaeker (ECR Belgium) at the European Parliament on Tuesday 30 January, a number of actors from the transport sector stated that the central question in the European Commission's proposals relating to the first "mobility" package from 31 May last (see EUROPE 11799) involved monitoring the rules and the smart tachograph.
Despite the stakeholders’ different interpretations of the notions and conceptions of cabotage and posted workers, they all agreed on the need to ensure effective controls in international transport on European Union territory.
Roberto Parrillo, the President of the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) effectively described this question as “crucial" and called for “simple measures subject to controls and sanctions" to be introduced. He argued that to achieve this end, the European Commission proposal of the compulsive introduction of the smart tachograph on the entire European heavy-duty vehicle fleet as of 2034 was insufficient. Mr Parrillo praised the suggestion from Wim Van de Camp (EPP, Netherlands) to bring forward this date to 2020 in its draft report (see EUROPE 11935) presented to the European Parliament on 23 January last (see EUROPE 11945).
On this point, Mr Parrillo received the backing of Lode Verkinderen, the Secretary General of the Transport and Logistics Flanders organisation. According to the latter, the key point in the European Commission’s proposals, in addition to the main texts, involve application and implementation of the said rules. Michael Svane, the President of the BusinessEurope transport working group went as far as saying that controls were, “by far the most important criterion we have to deal with".
These declarations come as no surprise given that the states (see EUROPE 11919), MEPs (see EUROPE 11945) and civil society (see EUROPE 11911) have already expressed a position in favour of efficient controls, particularly by way of the smart tachograph. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)