EU ban plans are blocked by rows
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by Karen Miles
Plans to harmonise weekend lorry bans throughout the European Union are in disarray.
European Commission officials attempting to persuade France, Italy, Germany and Austria to agree to a new format for old and proposed bans have confirmed that discussions are "getting nowhere". with all four countries so far refusing to compromise.
Germany and Austria are refusing to accept that lorry ban harmonisation is any of the Ell's business, insisting instead that they will make their own rules. France and Germany, which are two of the EU's leading users of truck bans, believe that the EC's proposals are "too lax".
At least 12 countries out of the EU's 15 member states are needed to approve the proposals. With four countries confirming their opposition there is little chance that the proposals will move forward, says an EC source.
Confirmation of the opposition to harmonisation comes as Belgium presses ahead with plans to introduce a blanket weekend ban on lorry movements (CM 14-20 October). The Green Party transport minister Isabelle Durant is concerned that Belgium is attracting extra trucks from the UK because of France's weekend ban.
The EC has proposed a window for bans between 07:0022:00hrs on Sundays and Bank Holidays. Outside those hours an EU member state would be required to seek authorisation from Brussels.
If the proposals were ever agreed international operators would also benefit from a common notification system for new bans—currently they can he brought in almost overnight—and a harmonised list of exempted vehicles.
But the EU's Finnish presidency has not even bothered to put the proposals on the agenda for the transport ministers' meeting today arid tomorrow (9-10 December) because of the lack of an agreement.
Instead the 15 ministers are expected to discuss ways of liberalising rail freight in the EU and the proposal to impose the Working Time Directive's 48hour working week limit on drivers and owner-drivers.