The European Transport Workers’ Federation acknowledges that an agreement was reached on the Mobility Package between the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament this morning, in trilogue. The agreement doesn’t include all elements the ETF has fought for but it does represent progress towards the declared goals and ambitions of the Package.
The ETF welcomes, in particular, the progress made with respect to the early introduction of the latest generation of smart tachograph on all vehicles in the scope of the driving and rest time regulation. We welcome the fact that light good vehicles will be finally covered by the EU rules alongside the heavy-duty ones. We welcome the introduction of a cooling-off period relating to cabotage operations and the application of cabotage rules to combined transport. Last and not least, we welcome the regular return of the vehicle to the country of company establishment, as a key measure in combating letter-box companies in road transport.
We vigorously welcome the fact that no further exemptions were added to application of posting of workers rules in road transport.
On driving and rest time, however, the trilogue outcome is a regress compared to the current rules, although we must acknowledge the huge efforts made by the ETF and by our friendly political allies in considerably limiting the damage. The derogations on the rest periods and the driver’s return home fall short to bring improvements to the sector and to our workers.
Having said that, the ETF is committed to defending the progress made so far and to further fight for the improvement of the Package. Equally important to a good and sound set of rules are the measures to control them. Enforcement and strong sanctions must continue to stay at the core of the Mobility Package.
The ETF will consult its member organisations on the trilogue outcome and will decide on our further strategy, along the lines stated above.
Last and not least, we would like to thank all those who, part of the negotiation process, have stood by us, and made the voice of millions of bus, coach and truck drivers heard all the way up to the top levels of the decision-making process. We need your help and support in the future! We need better rules for the sector, to effectively address social dumping and unfair competition, to make roads safer in Europe, to make transport by road socially, economically and environmentally sustainable!