Luxembourg, 03/10/2000 (Agence Europe) - At its session in Luxembourg on Monday, the Transport Council was unable to reach a consensus on the thorny issue of working time for road transport. Despite the generally favourable reaction to the Commission's compromise resting on the temporary exclusion of self-employed hauliers from the directive's field of application, stances remained very firm. "We are light years away from a compromise. We risk being encircled by hauliers at our next meeting", is how the Luxembourg minister summarized the situation. Council President, French Transport Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot, however, along with the Commissioner for Transport, Loyola de Palacio, expressed "the optimism of determination", counting on the outlines of progress observed on other elements of the "social package" to reach a compromise at the Transport Council of 22 December.
"We noted the determination of Member States to make progress on several aspects of the issue, especially to combat the irregular conditions of employment of drivers from third countries, training and road checks", Jean-Claude Gayssot told the press. Commissioner de Palacio said that she would be submitting a proposal in November on the control of the conditions of employment for drivers from third countries. As for the specific directive on working time, Jean-Claude Gayssot continued, "the solution recommended resting on the provisional exclusion of the self-employed was recognised as being necessary to break the deadlock, but several ministers requested an impact assessment of such a measure on competition in the sector". At the same time, the Council "asked the Commission to simplify current legislation on rest time for drivers (3820/85) and ensure consistency with the project on working time.
The Commission would like "the question of the duration of work to be settled in the framework of the package and by seeking a common approach (…) Safety and fair competition must be the main criteria in discussions", Commissioner de Palacio pointed out, while recognising that on "many questions, stances are still far apart". Eleven Member States could rally around the compromise excluding the self-employed from the directive. Italy and Portugal demand that they be covered by the directive, Germany is more conciliatory. Six States (United Kingdom, Netherlands, Ireland, Portugal, Greece and Finland) wonder, however, more generally about the need to adopt a new directive. To add to the difficulties, three outlying Member States (Spain, Finland and Portugal) wanted the issue of the harmonisation of the ban on weekend driving for hauliers (deadlocked in Council for months) also to be included in the package. But Germany and Austria traditionally consider that the question of a ban on driving comes within national powers.
Indeed, the German minister remarked before his country's press, Member States remain "divided into three clans": those who want to move forward rapidly, those who would prefer to do nothing, and those who want to include in the package the issue of the ban on weekend driving".