With the European Parliament due to give its opinion on Wednesday 4 July on the social and market aspects of the first mobility package (posted workers/drivers, rest and driving time and cabotage) and these votes looking very uncertain (see EUROPE 12053), Violeta Bulc, the Commissioner for Transport, shared a number of observations from the Commission during a debate with MEPs on Tuesday 3 July.
Although she was keen to thank the rapporteurs and MEPs for their work, she did speak out on a number of key points in the votes and made a particular reference to the compromises voted on by Parliament's transport committee on 4 June last (see EUROPE 12034). Therefore, with the debate raging on whether to apply posted workers rules to international transport operations, Ms Bulc pointed out that, “The Commission supports neither full exclusion nor full inclusion" in keeping with the Commission's proposal of 31 May 2017 (see EUROPE 11799). On the basis of this same proposal, the Commissioner is also advocating full application of these rules to cabotage.
Ms Bulc also commented on the future votes on driving and rest times and she does not approve of the derogations that could be put in place for international passenger transport. She does not regard, however, that taking reduced weekly rest time (24 hours) in the vehicle as being a problem in itself.
Finally, on the cabotage and access to the lorry driver profession sections, the Commissioner does not want the amendments to make the legal framework excessively strict, which she believes could discourage cabotage operations. She also considers that obliging vehicles to return to their state of establishment to load or unload merchandise according to a certain frequency in the number of operations could have a negative impact on the market by increasing the number of empty runs.
Putting these points to a vote on Wednesday are still the subject of intense debates and discussions between and within the political groups. With just a few hours to go until the votes, no one in Parliament is daring to provide any possible forecasts. The voting order, namely, postings, then rest and driving times and finally cabotage, could prove decisive. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)