On Monday 25 January, the seven coordinators of the European Parliament's Transport Committee assured the European Commission of their intention to support its proposal for a regulation to allow the renewal of certificates, licences and approvals in the transport sector and the postponement of certain periodic checks and continuous training (see EUROPE 12638/6), as these procedures are still hampered in some Member States by the health context.
As last spring, the Commission is proposing to authorise a further extension of these certificates and approvals for a period of 7 months, with the possibility for Member States not encountering particular difficulties - for example, those where all procedures are carried out digitally - not to benefit from them.
Under the first version of the regulation, the Commission had granted six extensions to six Member States, Maja Bakran, head of the policy coordination unit in the Commission's Directorate-General for Transport (DG MOVE), told MEPs.
This new proposal has been generally welcomed and repeatedly described as “necessary” by the political groups, some of which, such as the EPP, Identity and Democracy and the ECR, have already declared themselves in favour of using the urgency procedure.
The coordinators of the EPP, S&D, Greens/EFA and GUE/NGL groups, however, raised the question of the consequences of these repeated extensions in terms of security and questioned Ms Bakran on the assessments carried out by the Commission in this respect.
“We cannot extend these measures indefinitely and if the situation persists, we must ensure that the system is changed and that this proposal is no longer necessary”, stressed Kateřina Konečná (GUE/NGL, Czech Republic).
The representative of the Commission assured, without going into too much detail, that “the safety elements, the road safety in particular, are continuously guiding” the Commission in its work.
Furthermore, she concluded by indicating that no proposal for amendment had, for the time being, been put forward by the Council of the EU. “We hope that you will ask to use the urgency procedure”, she urged MEPs. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)