Representatives of the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union met for a second time on Wednesday 11 December to continue the interinstitutional negotiations (trilogue) on the revision of the Driving Licence Directive (see EUROPE 13511/4). However, Parliament refused to talk about medical checks and driving licence validity periods.
According to a European source contacted by Agence Europe on Wednesday 18 December, the day before the trilogue, MEPs had agreed to put these points on the agenda. In the end, the negotiators discussed the minimum ages, the staging, equivalence of licences, the probationary period and accompanied driving. The rapporteur, Jutta Paulus (Greens/EFA, German), suggested that Parliament would accept the EU Council’s amendment on driving licences as identity cards, with a validity period of 10 years, if the EU Council moved on the accompanied driving scheme, but this was not acceptable to the EU Council.
With regard to the minimum ages, the staging and equivalences, the EU Council Presidency has shown itself open to the idea of moving towards Parliament on Articles 7, 9 and 23, relating respectively to professional age limits, heavier vehicles such as ambulances and motorhomes, and a simplification of the conditions for driving buses at the age of 21. No agreement was reached, but the rapporteur accepted that the trilogue should provide guidance for further work at a technical level, given that not all the amendments were legally sound.
The probationary period has been the subject of more controversy. Parliament made three requests: - a clear and politically convincing text in the Article on zero alcohol tolerance; - an additional six-month probationary period after obtaining a new category of licence; - stricter rules on safety equipment. As these elements were too far removed from the EU Council’s position, the negotiators welcomed the idea of a text from the European Commission on strengthening the recital concerned.
As a result, the various openings signalled during the trilogue now constitute a basis for deepening the technical discussion and returning to the trilogue at political level under the next Presidency, which Poland will assume on 1 January. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)