Brussels, 21/12/2000 (Agence Europe) - Swept along by a nine-hour debate on maritime safety ending around 2 a.m. (see previous article), the Transport Council launched, on Thursday afternoon, into a new negotiation marathon on the working hours of hauliers. Most of the debate was focused on temporarily excluding independent hauliers from the directive proposed by the Commission in order to allow the Council to reach an agreement on the issue under discussion for two years now. The Presidency proposed a compromise whereby the EP and Council would review the consequences of this exclusion two years after enforcement of the directive, on the basis of a Commission report. It also proposed the definition of independent workers adopted by the Parliament in order to avoid the proliferation of "false independents": - the head of a firm who, as the case may be, holds a professional license, lawfully working for himself, and freely fixing his working hours, and who owns one or several lorries.
Five Member States were in favour of this compromise (Germany, Spain, France, Sweden, and the UK), while three were radically opposed to including independent workers in the directive (Netherlands, Finland, Greece), and seven hoped they would be included (Italy, Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, Austria, Luxembourg, Portugal). Luxembourg and Portugal seemed ready to rally to the compromise. Belgian Transport Minister Isabelle Durant insisted that the inclusion of independent workers after a transitional period of two or three years should be "automatic". "How can one justify the fact some independent workers continue to use the roads without limitation, with all the consequences that are well known in terms of safety?" she asked, speaking to the press. The debate continued in camera during the evening.
The French, Swedish and Belgian ministers had met, on Thursday morning, a delegation of the European Transport Federation (ETF), which called for the inclusion of independent workers in the directive and its rapid adoption.
The Council, moreover, should resume a discussion that also looked as though it was going to prove difficult after a first stormy round the table exchange of views at lunch, on the financing of the future satellite positioning system, Galileo.