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Europe: It's liberalised but not fair
Page 34
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MILES BRIGNALL'S balanced "EU: dream or nightmare?" report (CM 11 March) deserves a little expansion.
When the UK joined the EEC in 1973 the Department of Transport concentrated on liberalising the haulage market. European legislation, either enacted or envisaged, included such unwelcome items as capacity limitations, compulsory tariffs and severe quota restrictions on international haulage.
Removing or resisting these was given priority over harmonis ing the conditions of competition such as fuel and lorry taxes and vehicle weights and dimensions.
The UK delayed harmonisation of lorry weights for a quarter of a century Even today it still resists even approximation, let alone full harmonisation.of fuel and vehicle taxes.
For the first ten years of British membership I was the DoT official responsible for much of the day-to-day road haulage negotiations in Brussels. 1 thought then,and still think, that liberalisation and harmonisation should have been given equal priority. But transport ministers, both Labour andTory. took the opposite view.And despite Yes, Minister, civil servants have to negotiate within guidelines laid down by ministers.
As a result, today's European haulage market is almost totally liberalised, but its competitive battles are still not fought on a level field. And that looks likely to continue for the foreseeable future.
Reg Dawson Llandudno