• The EEC Council of Transport Ministers was due to
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meet yesterday (Wednesday 16 December) to try once again to reach agreement on permit numbers. The last meeting ran over time and came to no positive conclusion.
If the ministers do manage to reach a deal this week, however, they will also have
to decide whether or not to take the first steps towards legislation on cabotage. Their plan (CM 5-9 September) is to extend the scope of about 10% of the permits they allocate to allow their holders to engage in "consecutive cabotage". This means hauliers with "cabotage permits" will be allowed to do two operations on every international
trip. Experts in Brussels believe that treating 10% of the next permit allocation in this way will give the industry and its authorities the ability to carry out a small-scale experiment into the problems which will need to be resolved before a Europeanwide regulatory system can be introduced to control cabotage for everyone. Most officials, however, do not hold out much hope on cabotage, and the mood in Brussels at the beginning of the week indicated that it would be a major achievement if the Council of Minsters managed to resolve a permit increase only. The majority of transport ministers will shed no tears if the question is delayed until they meet in April.