On Wednesday 27 March, MEPs meeting in plenary session of the European Parliament easily adopted (497 votes in favour, 78 against, 52 abstentions) their position at first reading on the revision of Directive 92/106/EEC on the combined transport of goods between Member States, following the initial position of the report adopted in the ‘Transport’ Committee last July (see EUROPE 12059/10).
This dossier, which is part of the second ‘mobility’ package, is to be linked to the social and market aspects of the first ‘mobility’ package, on which discussions continue to drift in Parliament (see other news).
Interinstitutional negotiations ('trilogues') between Parliamentary representatives and the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU had begun this year before being interrupted (see EUROPE 12170/9, 12179/13). This was due to disagreements between Member States' ambassadors ('Committee of Permanent Representatives' - Coreper) on the negotiating mandate and, in particular, on cabotage exemptions for international combined transport (see EUROPE 12211/12).
Due to the interruption of these trilogues, Parliament wished to secure its position and vote at first reading. Although some MEPs wanted to revisit the current Article 4 of the text, which concerns exemptions from cabotage in international combined transport, Parliament’s position has remained the same as that of last July. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)