The rapporteurs in the European Parliament responsible for the social and market aspects of the first ‘mobility’ package (posting of hauliers, resting and driving time, cabotage, market access and tachograph) submitted new draft compromise amendments to their colleagues on Thursday 20 December for the decisive vote in the Transport Committee on 10 January 2019.
Merja Kyllönen (GUE/NGL, Finland), Ismail Ertug (S&D, Germany) and Wim van de Camp (EPP, Netherlands) will therefore have presented the latter texts just before the Christmas break. However, the respite will be short-lived for MEPs, as the resumption will be marked by this new vote in the European Parliament's Transport Committee.
In substance, almost no major changes have been suggested with regard to the latest draft texts presented on Tuesday 11 December and detailed in our columns (see EUROPE 12159).
As a reminder, these proposals should be analysed in the light of the agreement reached by the Ministers of Transport at the Council of the EU on 3 December last (see EUROPE 12152), the rapporteurs having subsequently been instructed to put on the table texts in the same spirit as that of the agreement (see EUROPE 12153).
Reference period for the rest period. However, there is one important change in relation to the last texts. Indeed, Mr van de Camp proposes on this point to keep the provisions of the current Regulation 561/2006 on rest and driving time as regards the reference period of resting time for drivers.
Thus, under current regulations, a driver may take, during two consecutive weeks, two regular weekly rest periods (45 hours or more) or one regular weekly rest period and one reduced weekly rest period (at least 24 hours). The reference period is therefore two weeks.
However, the Commission proposed to extend this reference period to four weeks (see EUROPE 11799), which was approved by the Member States. Over a period of four weeks, this means taking at least two regular weekly rest periods, making it possible to take two reduced weekly rest periods. This paves the way for two consecutive reduced weekly rest periods.
Mr van de Camp's recommendation is a major point of the negotiations, with several political families and trade unions eager to keep this two-week rest period as a reference period, mainly for social and road safety reasons.
While the vote in the Parliament's Transport Committee is therefore scheduled for 10 January, before a vote in plenary session in the meantime, nothing is yet decided. It should be recalled that the parliamentary committee already gave its opinion last June (see EUROPE 12034), before the three draft reports were rejected by the MEPs meeting in plenary in July (see EUROPE 12055).
Regular rest in the cabin. Two points now seem to be at the heart of the negotiations to reach an agreement. The first concerns the prohibition of taking regular rest periods on board the vehicle. Mr van de Camp wants regular rest to be taken in the cabin, if the vehicle is parked in a secure parking area equipped with adequate facilities. It also wishes to introduce a period of three years after the entry into force of the text (possibly renewable once, if the Commission considers it appropriate), during which time the truck may not be parked in such an area.
Several political families, mainly on the left, are opposed to Mr van de Camp's recommendations in this area.
As a reminder, the Member States have simply decided against taking regular rest periods on board the truck.
Return of the truck. The other point concerns the return of lorries used in international transport to the company's Member State of establishment. Mr Ertug suggested that these vehicles should at least be loaded or unloaded in the State of establishment every four weeks, when many Members, particularly from the EPP, would seem to want to withdraw this recommendation.
In the Council, the States did not support a mandatory return of the truck to the State where the company is established. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)