At their Council meeting in Luxembourg on Tuesday 18 June, the European transport ministers discussed two texts from the ‘Greening Freight Transport’ package: the directive on the combined transport of goods (see EUROPE 13429/7) and the directive on the weights and dimensions of certain road vehicles (see EUROPE 13428/15). Fears about the impact of the increased weight of heavy vehicles on road infrastructure have not been allayed.
“We need to preserve infrastructure and road safety by preventing too great an increase of traffic from damaging it”, argued Patrice Vergriete, the French minister delegate, during the public debate. The German minister, Volker Wissing, mentioned the fact that his country’s major infrastructure network was “ageing” and that the financial commitments required, if it were to be repaired, would be considerable.
As for European Modular Systems, better known as ‘mega trucks’, Mr Wissing felt that it was essential for Member States to retain control of these vehicles on their territories, including for cross-border traffic. Like all the ministers, he is nevertheless in favour of incentives for electric heavy goods vehicles.
For Mark Harbers, the Dutch minister, these mega trucks must not exceed four metres in height and a weight of 11.5 tonnes on the drive axle, as proposed in the latest compromise from the Belgian Presidency. He also wants to harmonise modular system certificates at European level.
Constantin-Gabriel Bunduc, the Romanian secretary of State, insisted that the two directives should be dealt with at the same time, to “ensure that the two proposals are complementary”.
The ministers also discussed the definition of combined transport. “Many Member States asked for a simpler approach, based on the relative shares of predefined distances of road and non-road journeys”, stressed Magda Kopczyńska, Director General for Mobility and Transport at the European Commission. But no majority was found: “It is difficult to reflect the specific characteristics of the different Member States”, she conceded.
Work will continue under the Hungarian Presidency, which begins on Monday 1 July.
Read the progress reports on combined transport: https://aeur.eu/f/cjo; and on weights and dimensions: https://aeur.eu/f/clj (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)