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HE EUROPEAN COMMISSION has roposed a 25 per cent increase in the :ommunity quota for transport author-, iations next year, but the eventual gure could be as low as a compromise 5 per cent, reports our Brussels cormpondent.
Assuming a 25 per cent increase, the ital would rise to 4788, of which Britain's tare would be 523. The proportionate tare-out among other member states is elgium 517, Denmark 358, West Gerany 862, Greece 95, France 784, Ireland 5, Italy 674, Luxembourg 133, and etherlands 747.
In the case of Greece, which is due to the EEC next year, the Commission says at the number of authorisations would be nited to 30 if the same criteria had been )plied as in the case of other countries. But felt that, in view of Greece's commercial iportance, its quota should be at least lual to Ireland's.
As usual, West Germany, which pursues pro-railway policy, will argue in Brussels r a lower rate of increase. EEC officials pect that a compromise 15 to 20 per cent 1:rease in the number of licences will be
agreed when transport ministers take a decision on the issue at their next meeting on December 4.
The Commission says that licences which enable lorries to move freely throughout the EEC contribute to the general economy of the community.
Moreover, they improve company profitability by cutting the number of empty runs and reduce the pressure on roads. They also boost energy saving.
This year, the Commission has not based the allocation of licences on the utilisation rate of the quota allocation in the previous year. It states that this requires prolonged and costly work for Eurocrats.
So it is proposed in future that the number of licences should be increased each year by the same percentage for each country.
The Commission is also proposing the simpler system of record sheets in the case of one-month authorisations. The booklet for recording these entries will consist of only ten double sheets and the Commission says this should make life a lot easier for transport operators.