On Wednesday, 19 November, EU Member States’ representatives to the Council of the EU prepared a negotiating position (‘general approach’) on the revision of the Weights and Dimensions Directive in preparation for the European transport ministers’ council meeting to be held on Thursday, 4 December.
The Danish Presidency of the Council presented a compromise text that it believes “strikes a fair balance and manages to represent the different interests and concerns of Member States”. It emphasised that this file was a priority and that the task had not been easy, since four presidencies had already previously made a start on it.
“The text secures a much needed incentive for the uptake of zero emission for heavy-duty vehicles, e.g., battery trucks while protecting the infrastructure and giving the proper tools for enforcement of the rules,” it asserted.
According to our information, the compromise proposal establishes that only zero-emission vehicles would be able to benefit from the increase in weights and dimensions. In addition, articulated vehicles, in particular, could weigh 11.5 tonnes and measure 16.5 metres instead of the 12.30 tonnes and 18 metres provided for in the European Commission’s initial proposal.
France, in particular, has approved this new approach, which reconciles the greening of transport with road safety and modal shift. However, according to a European source, Italy and Hungary have not approved these new figures and would have preferred to retain those in the initial proposal. As for Spain and Portugal, they have criticised the lack of standardisation between national and international rules for 44-tonne heavy-duty vehicles.
“It’s a complicated file, since it falls under national jurisdiction”, a source emphasised. “There are various points of view—between those who want to favour an intermodal shift to rail and those who want to encourage hauliers to buy electric vehicles”. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)