In a response addressed to around 30 MEPs, including, Martina Dlabajová (ALDE, Czech Republic), which the latter received on 30 August and was published on her Twitter account on Monday 3 September, the European Commissioner for Transport, Violeta Bulc, indicates that the suspension of the infringements procedure against Germany, Austria and France over their legislation on the minimum wage for European lorry drivers relates to the current discussions on the first mobility package.
It should be recalled that on 16 June 2016, the European Commission sent a letter of formal notice and a supplementary letter of formal notice to France and Germany respectively over their national legislation opposing the guarantee of a national minimum wage to European lorry drivers carrying out international transport and cabotage operations (and transit operations in Germany) on their national territory (see EUROPE 11574). An infringement procedure was also triggered against Austria on 27 April 2017 for similar reasons. No notable progress has been revealed since then regarding these procedures.
In the meantime, on 31 May 2017, the European Commission presented a package of proposals, the first mobility package, including several texts relating to the social and market aspects of European Road transport. These have been subject to intense debates and divisions between MEPs and the member states (see EUROPE 11799). The most recent negotiations have not had any outcome up until now either (see EUROPE 12078).
The 30 or so MEPs mentioned previously, the majority of whom are from central, eastern and peripheral Europe, support a liberalisation of the social rules in the transport field and would like to see the infringement procedures finalised. On 13 July last, they called on the European Commission to “speed up” these procedures.
In her reply, Ms Bulc confirmed that these procedures are currently suspended and linked the suspension to the unproductive discussions on the first mobility package. She added that she was convinced that an agreement on posted workers in the transport arena “will be possible to reach this objective only if we work altogether on a balanced solution”.
In response to the Commissioner’s reply, Ms Dlabajová said that she regretted the “passive approach” from the Commission, which created even more “legal uncertainty”. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)