On Monday 4 December, the European Transport Ministers voiced their concerns about the revision of the dimensions and weights of heavy vehicles, particularly with regard to the impact on road infrastructure.
Presented in July by the European Commission (see EUROPE 13220/21), this revised directive should harmonise the rules applying to transport operators and encourage the use of electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles.
“We are very concerned that the EU Council wants to undermine one of the main objectives of the proposal, which is to stimulate the uptake of zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles, (...) a sine qua non condition for the decarbonisation of the sector”, warned the European Commissioner for Transport, Adina Vălean.
“Given the capacity of the road infrastructure and the weight on the axles, we have to be very careful that these do not endanger road safety by damaging the infrastructure itself”, stressed Rafał Weber, the Polish Secretary of State, during the public debate. He summed up the concerns shared by other Member States, such as France, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria and Slovenia.
“These transport operations are already limited to parts of the infrastructure where a large amount of high clearance is necessary, so there is no requirement to upgrade any road infrastructure”, replied the Commissioner. “As far as overweight is concerned, let me remind you that a number of States will need to upgrade their vulnerable infrastructure in any circumstances”, she added.
The Austrian minister, Leonore Gewessler, also mentioned the fact that this text could “harm the competitiveness of rail freight”.
The ministers therefore agreed that the text should be further revised at a technical level. Some of them mentioned that they would like to see this directive revised at the same time as the directive on combined transport of goods.
This revision, proposed in November by the Commission (see EUROPE 13287/18), aims to encourage intermodality in order to make freight ‘greener’. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)