The European Transport Ministers discussed the issue of increasing the weights and dimensions of heavy duty vehicles again at their Council meeting in Luxembourg on Thursday 5 June (see EUROPE 13632/23). Despite some progress summarised in the report by the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU, the ministers are still reluctant to act, particularly because of the impact on road infrastructure.
Dariusz Klimczak, Poland’s Minister for Infrastructure, said that a solution still had to be found to two outstanding issues: - the possibility of allowing heavy duty vehicles where the appropriate road infrastructure is only slowly being developed; - the continued use of fossil fuels for international transport. The proposed safeguard clause allowing Member States to stop the circulation of this type of vehicle will require further work, he added.
The Bulgarian, French, Slovenian, Austrian and Hungarian ministers stressed the risks of damaging the infrastructure and the costs that would be incurred by putting mega-trucks, i.e. 44-tonne vehicles, on the road. “We believe that this additional load, as well as the 12.5 tonnes authorised per axle, would have a serious negative impact on our road infrastructure, and maintenance costs will only increase”, stressed Grozdan Karadjov from Bulgaria. “Increased weight would also have an impact on road safety. There would be more accidents, more fatalities”, said Hungary’s Bálint Nagy.
According to the French minister, Philippe Tabarot, a study has shown that, in his country of transit, liberalising the international circulation of 44-tonne diesel vehicles “would slow down the electrification of lorry fleets and, worse still, would expose us to a modal shift, but a reversed modal shift, with rail or river transport likely to be abandoned under the new rules”.
On the other hand, the Portuguese, Spanish, German, Estonian and Austrian ministers were concerned about the risks of distortions of competition, due to the inclusion of a clause that would allow Member States to prohibit or provide for time or distance restrictions for cross-border traffic of vehicles weighing more than 40 tonnes and less than 44 tonnes, even if these Member States allow the circulation of this type of vehicle at national level.
Read the progress report: https://aeur.eu/f/h75 (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)