In a compromise text dated Monday 29 January on the introduction of a directive involving the application of a system for posted workers in a road transport, about which EUROPE has obtained information, the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union is advocating that the application of the rules on postings apply from the moment when a road haulier from the member state provides more than nine days of work a month in the same member state as part of international transport operations.
The “terrestrial transport" working group will be working on this compromise as of 6 February next. It is part of the publication of the European Commission's proposals presented on 31 May last in the first “mobility" package (see EUROPE 11799). The proposal on postings is a very sensitive political issue and has already been the subject of heated debates at the Council (see EUROPE 11919, 11804) and European Parliament (see EUROPE 11945).
With this draft compromise, the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council is taking a position in favour of the states from peripheral, Central and Eastern European countries, which are calling for a more liberal interpretation of the rules on posted transport workers. It is therefore going against the states from the "Road Alliance” (Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland), which are supporters of increased protection for lorry drivers.
In its proposal, the European Commission is effectively proposing to make the posted workers system applicable when a lorry driver is working more than three days in a member state. The Commission proposal’s future provisions do not cover cabotage or transit within the directive’s scope.
In this regard, the Bulgarian Presidency is explicitly excluding transit from the scope of the future directive. It is also advocating application of a posted workers system as from six days of cabotage worked, whereas the Commission's text calls for these rules to be applied from the very first cabotage operation and with a nine day threshold a month applying to international transport.
The Commission is also proposing that a complete working day can be considered as from six hours of work provided (anything less than this is considered a half day). The Bulgarian Presidency of the Council has increased this threshold to 12 hours including, however, daily breaks and rest time.
The Presidency of the Council's suggestions therefore have a liberal complexion and resonate with the demands by certain Central, Eastern and peripheral European states expressed during the most recent meeting of the Transport Council on 5 December last (see EUROPE 11919). The working group discussions between experts from the different member states are therefore expected to be heated. This is despite the fact that the draft report by Merja Kyllönen (GUE/NGL, Finland) mainly goes in the direction advocated by the European Commission proposal (see EUROPE 11934) and has already been the subject of a variety of different criticism from the different political families represented during the European Parliament's transport committee (see EUROPE 11945).
The Bulgarian Presidency of the Council has also put forward several draft amendments regarding the statement on postings and exchange of information between member states for monitoring respect of basic provisions. It is also suggesting that the internal market information system (IMI) is used in this connection. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)