With 26 votes in favour, 11 against and one abstention, the European Parliament’s Committee on Transport and Tourism has adopted on Wednesday 14 February its negotiating position with the Council of the European Union on the revision of the rules on weights and dimensions in road transport (see EUROPE 13279/25).
“Zero-emission vehicles must become the backbone of road transport if the sector is to reach its decarbonisation objectives”, commented rapporteur Isabel García Muñoz (S&D, Spanish). “New rules will create real incentives for companies to switch to zero-emission trucks and to make road freight traffic more sustainable and safe”, she added.
MEPs want to increase the maximum weight and length of zero-emission trucks by four tonnes, to compensate for the space and weight needed to install batteries or hydrogen fuel cells, and to provide additional loading capacity. This upgrade could, they say, encourage the transport industry to adopt cleaner vehicles, as the extra load capacity will make zero-emission trucks and buses more competitive than their conventional alternatives.
The parliamentary committee also believes that the installation of ‘net zero emission’ technologies should neither be at the expense of sufficient cabin space nor reduce driver comfort.
“Instead of a planned economy dictating quotas and disadvantaging our industry, we need to set the right market incentives to ensure the uptake is profitable for both our economy and our environment”, stressed Markus Ferber, shadow rapporteur for the EPP Group, in a press release.
MEPs also want stricter enforcement of EU rules and suggest that Member States introduce automatic enforcement systems along major roads.
To improve road safety and help road users identify mega-trucks or other oversized vehicles, for example before overtaking, MEPs suggest creating a European label for the length of these vehicles. They also want the European Commission to set up an online portal providing information on mega-trucks.
However, this measure did not meet with the unanimous approval of the committee. “This law would mean that we would have to re-equip tunnels, bends and rest areas at a cost of billions of euros. An anti-climate investment!”, protested Anna Deparnay-Grunenberg (Greens/EFA, German). In her opinion, these investments should instead be devoted to the development of rail, because “rail can transport goods much more efficiently”. She announced that she would try to correct this at Parliament’s plenary vote scheduled for March.
According to our information, this text is still pending with the EU Council, which wishes to negotiate it as a package with the text on combined transport (see EUROPE 13334/11).
To read the MEPs’ position: https://aeur.eu/f/auv (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)