After presenting first draft compromises on the social and market aspects of the first ‘mobility’ package on 8 October last (see EUROPE 12113), the Austrian Presidency of the Council of the European Union will present new texts to national experts meeting in the Council's Land Transport Working Party on Monday 22 October.
Such a timetable is not insignificant. EU Transport Ministers will indeed meet for an informal meeting in Graz on 29 and 30 October, and should discuss these topics, although this item is not formally on the agenda.
As a reminder, these debates are part of the Commission's proposals of 31 May 2017 (see EUROPE 11799), which already saw the ministers fail in the negotiations last June (see EUROPE 12036).
Two meetings of the Council's Land Transport Working Party provided an opportunity for national experts to exchange views on Austria's first draft compromises. The meeting on 11 October dealt with the posting of hauliers and the meeting on 15 October focused on driving and resting time of hauliers, cabotage, and tachograph.
Posting. On the posting side, it would seem, from our information, that the Member States are now divided into three groups:
- a group of Member States from Central and Peripheral Europe (including Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain) would indeed be inclined to work on the basis of the Vienna recommendations, namely an adjusted 'Danish solution'. There would then be no application of the posting rules to bilateral international operations between the State of establishment of the company employing the driver and another Member State (one or two loading(s)/unloading(s) may take place on the way to and from the same States).
- several Eastern European States, in particular Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Hungary, which have traditionally supported the exclusion of international transport from the application of the rules on posting, would strongly oppose this.
- the Road Alliance (Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg and Sweden) would be rather reluctant to do so, but the position of these States in this area would have to be analysed in the light of the other texts.
Cabotage. On cabotage, there is also no consensus on Vienna's suggestion to keep the current regulations (three operations authorised for a period of seven days after an international transport operation) with a cooling-off period of 14 days.
States in peripheral Europe, in particular Spain, Ireland and Portugal, would be opposed to this cooling-off period, which is considered too long. This would also be the case for the Netherlands and Luxembourg, the position of the Grand Duchy thus differing from that of other States in the Road Alliance.
Central and Eastern European states would oppose this, but it would appear that the model of the Austrian Presidency of the Council is being maintained, although the duration of the cooling-off period may be subject to adjustment.
Driving and resting time. On the issue of drivers' rest and driving time, the States of the Road Alliance would still be opposed to the Vienna suggested exemption from the prohibition for the driver to take regular weekly rest (45 hours or more) on board the truck, if the truck is parked in dedicated areas with adequate facilities or if the cab meets certain criteria.
This is traditionally a red line for these countries, which want the legislation to be as uniform as possible and in line with the judgment of the European Court of Justice of 20 December last (see EUROPE 11930).
Tachograph. While Vienna wants the second-generation smart tachograph to be installed on board all lorries operating in the territory of a Member State other than that in which the company is established by 2024, this point would still be the subject of differences between Western European States, which support this timetable, and Central, Eastern and Peripheral European States, which are less favourable to it.
Compromises are therefore expected by national delegations, with a view to making progress in the negotiations. And while a general approach for the December Transport Council meeting seemed unlikely a few weeks ago, a European source told us that such an outcome may be possible today. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)