ALTERNATIVE THINKING In its 10-year plan tor the transport sector,
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the European Commission said policy should focus on: making railways more competitive: introducing a ports policy; developing transport systems that make use of the very latest technology; charging for infrastructure use; producing more biofuels: and finding ways to make towns and cities less congested.
European policy has placed a significant emphasis on environmentally friendly transport and, more specifically, on making use of other means of transport.
The argument goes that If Europe is working
on developing alternative means to road haulage, in order to counter environmental issues, then the industry in the UK at least will have to align itself closely with Europe if it wishes to further influence the debate.
As committee chair, Simpson must take seriously and address concerns over the environment, but he insists "Europe doesn't create legislation just to be difficult".
Harmonisation of road transport policy is increasingly difficult to resoive.
It is an unenviable task because of this, but Europe has still had some success in moving all the member states to a more harmonised system.
For example, when Finland and Sweden joined the EU, there was fierce opposition to their use of longer vehicles being driven across borders.
They were considered to be unfit for ELI roads. not environmentally friendly, and, due to their greater size, dangerous.
The EU solution was to use normal-sized lorries to pull a semi-trailer, placed on a dolly. This meant the giant lorries could be split into two vehicles when crossing a border.