Two draft revised compromises from the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union on cabotage and posted workers in the transport sector, which EUROPE has examined, highlight the persisting disagreements between the national experts from the “terrestrial transport working party” on the social aspects in the “mobility” package presented by the Commission on 31 May last (see EUROPE 11799).
Posted workers. The draft revised compromise on the directive revising directive
2006/22/EC involving application of the posted workers system for lorry drivers is, in its political aspects, very similar to the first draft compromise presented during the working party on 29 January, which had a rather liberal slant to it, in compliance with the demands made by countries in central, eastern and peripheral Europe (see EUROPE 11951).
The text therefore maintains the application of the system on posted workers only when a lorry driver works more than nine days a month in a member state which is not the one in which he is officially based, as part of international transport operations. This system would, nevertheless, be applied retroactively as from the first day of work. The new compromise also maintains this ceiling at five days within the context of cabotage operations.
These two ceilings are, however, the subject of significant differences of opinion between the experts from the member states and discussions are therefore still continuing in the working party, in an attempt to obtain a compromise on these points.
Cabotage. These dynamics also exist in the context of the revision of regulation 1072/2009, relating to cabotage rules on European Union territory. The draft revised compromise is also, in this regard, quite similar to the first text that the terrestrial transport working party experts examined (see EUROPE 11953).
The Bulgarian Presidency of the Council is therefore again suggesting making the number of cabotage operations possible over a five day period unlimited. As it currently stands, it is only possible to carry out three of these operations over a seven day period. This is on the lines of the European Commission proposal.
The new text, however, suggests including a five day waiting period between cabotage operations (as opposed to two days in the first draft compromise) and therefore makes it obligatory for the lorry driver to leave the territory over a five day period and carry out another international transport operation in order to benefit from the “right to cabotage”. This suggestion is more likely to satisfy the states belonging to the Road Alliance (Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland), which are more in favour of robust rules governing the market.
On the question of these two ceilings, however, the differences separating the member states are also significant and the discussions will therefore continue.
Marked opposition at European Parliament. The debates on cabotage and posted workers are also very intense at the European Parliament’ transport committee (see EUROPE 11945), following the presentation of the draft reports in this regard (see EUROPE 11934 and 11939). The amendments to these texts proposed by the MEPs highlight the clear opposition that exists which is likely to lead to very difficult negotiations. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)