1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170 
French proposal will block Cabotage plan
Page 7
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Plans for a trial EC cabotage scheme next year have been hit by a French proposal which is considered unworkable by other member countries.
The original Spanish scheme was for 5,000 three-month licences valid anywhere in the EC, but last week in Brussels the French came forward with a plan for 15,000 one-month/ one-country permits, with 2,500 allocated to British hauliers. About 300 of these would be for cabotage operations within Germany, a few more would cover work in Italy and so on. Foreign hauliers from other countries would be able to share about 3,000 licences to compete for UK loads.
Under the French scheme, each haulier would base a representative in each country where its cabotage operations take place, to deal with legal and fiscal matters, and the vehicles would be subject to the national rules of the "host state".
French transport minister Michelle Delebarre — the current president of the EC Transport Council — will propose the scheme at the council's next meeting on 16 October. But it is likely to be heavily criticised as unworkable by Britain, Holland, Denmark and most other countries which favour the Spanish solution.
French hauliers have never liked the Spanish cabotage plan, designed to run until the Single European Market comes into operation at the end of 1992, because they fear France will become a prime target for foreign competition.
No decision can now be expected at this month's meeting.