EPP Vice-President Françoise Grossetête (France) and several heads of national delegations from the EPP sent a letter to the President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani (EPP, Italy), on Tuesday 5 March, asking him to put a vote on the social and market aspects of the first ‘mobility’ package (posting of drivers, driving and resting times, tachograph, cabotage, market access) on the agenda for Parliament’s next plenary session, to be held from 11 to 14 March.
The Members who signed this letter represent the German, Spanish, French, Italian, Luxembourg, Slovak and Czech delegations.
The request was made with confidence in the fact that "there is a majority in favour of the texts" according to some coordinators of the Parliament’s ‘Transport’ Committee, referring to the proposals presented by Ismail Ertug (S&D, Germany), Merja Kyllönen (GUE/NGL, Finland) and Pavel Telička (ALDE, Czech Republic) on 28 February last and detailed in our columns (see EUROPE 12204).
Most importantly, this letter was sent two days before a crucial meeting of the Conference of Presidents of the Parliament's political groups, which will have to decide on the procedural follow-up to these issues (see EUROPE 12194, 12189). There is uncertainty surrounding this meeting as to whether or not the group leaders will decide to vote on these three extremely sensitive issues at the next plenary session of Parliament. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)