IN BRIEF
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• A 40% increase in the allocation of EEC multilateral permits this year is now "almost guaranteed" according to Belgian transport minister Herman De Croo.
Reporting on an informal meeting of transport ministers in Brussels this month, De Croo says the 40% increase will be made official when ministers meet again in March.
The deal will give Britain 902 permits out of the total 11,475.
EEC officials, however, warn that there could still be a last-minute hitch. The Germans are still capable of blocking a 40% deal if they do not get a satisfactory commitment on moves towards fiscal harmonization.
• The Swiss authorities have promised improved road and rail links to end delays to international transport at their borders with West Germany and Italy.
Protests were lodged recently by the International Road Transport Union, which blamed the delays on the Swiss curfew on lorry traffic. The ban applies from 9prn to 5am in winter, and from lOpm to 9am in summer.
• Euro-MPs have rejected British suggestions for a total ban on the international transport of animals for slaughter or further fattening. Members debated a report on animal welfare by British Euro-MP Richard Simmonds, in which he called for stricter enforcement of legislation covering the transport of live animals, but other Euro-MPs wanted his report amended to ban international transport altogether, claiming that a total ban would be the "only feasible method" of preventing cruelty to animals.
Euro-MPs rejected the amendments, but called on the Commission to introduce rules covering conditions for transporting animals covering such areas as maximum journey time without adequate stops for water, rest or food.