At its plenary session on Tuesday 6 February, the European Parliament adopted its position on the regulation on driving disqualifications (see EUROPE 13303/4) by 372 votes to 220, with 43 abstentions.
“I am positive this directive will not only help reduce road accidents, but it will also contribute to better awareness among citizens about more responsible driving and a willingness to follow the rules and accept the consequences of breaking them, no matter where in the EU we drive”, said Petar Vitanov (S&D, Bulgarian), the text’s rapporteur, in a press release.
With this text, serious breaches of traffic rules should lead to driving licence disqualifications throughout the EU, and no longer just in the country where the licence was issued. In their position, MEPs suggest extending the list of serious offences by adding driving without a valid licence and driving at 50 km/h over the speed limit. They are also proposing to set a lower speed limit for residential areas of 30 km/h.
The Parliament wants to set a deadline of 10 working days for EU countries to inform each other of decisions on driving disqualifications, and a further 15 working days to decide whether driving disqualifications will apply throughout the EU. The driver concerned should be informed of the final decision within seven working days.
However, the text was rejected by a majority of MEPs from the EPP group. One of them, the German Markus Ferber, explained this position in a press release: “We must be careful not to overload the text with unattainable ideas, such as introducing a Europe-wide points system”.
For its part, the Council of the EU has not yet reached a negotiating position. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)