Hope for EEC quota deal
Page 10
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• A glimmer of hope that the EEC will pull off a deal over quotas .has emerged as Europe's leaders prepare for the Hanover summit on 27-28 June. For months Germany has blocked progress: its transport firms are heavily taxed and the German Government wants fiscal harmonisation before agreeing to end quota restrictions. The Germans, clearly anticipating an end to the deadlock, have changed the arrangements for the transport ministers' meeting.
Originally they were due to have a single meeting in Luxembourg on 20-21 June, but now a second meeting has been tentatively arranged for 29 June, immediately after the summit. Germany will not be in such a strong position when it relinquishes the EEC presidency at the end of this month, and could easily be outvoted when Greece takes over.
At stake is a 40% increase in the quota of community licences this year and a general move towards complete freedom for hauliers by 1992. El Attempts by three nonEEC countries to further restrict Community transit traffic would constitute "a grave and flagrant violation" of international agreements, says the EEC's Economic and Social Committee.
The committee, which conducted an independent enquiry, found difficulties encountered in Austria, Switzerland and Yugoslavia including an inadequate infrastructure, major restrictions on vehicle weights and dimensions, haulage quotas, taxes, .tolls and frontier delays. It predicts that the situation will deteriorate after 1992 when trade between the EEC and other European countries increases dramatically.