Malta has failed to influence European transport rules, which local industrialists fear will raise coastal navigation and logistics costs by at least 10%.
MEPs in the European Parliament’s Transport Committee last Monday backed an agreement reached with EU ministers on a major reform of the road transport sector. The rules will set mandatory conditions for drivers’ rest times and places of rest.
But Maltese companies say the new rules will punish island economies like Malta the most.
Despite a late attempt this year by Transport Minister Ian Borg to discuss the matter in the European Council, Malta Today has been informed that no agreement has been reached with EU ministers and they have not taken up any of Malta’s pleas regarding its industry.
Instead, in a last-ditch attempt to force concessions on the deal, and in a rare move of national unity, Malta’s six MEPs introduced a set of amendments to the proposed rules during the last meeting of the Transport Committee: none of the amendments passed.
While the vote was held by a show of hands, the main result was the confirmation of a previous resolution in January, supporting all of the rapporteurs’ recommendations without amendments.
Despite national efforts, the Maltese amendments lacked any support from key MEPs with influence within the Transport Committee to support any of the last-minute changes.
In February, Peter Agius, the former National Party candidate for Europe, had raised the alarm that EU negotiations on new rules were progressing rapidly, to the detriment of Maltese industry.
Agius had warned that Malta should intervene very early in EU negotiations across the board. “Other member states had already set their main objectives before the European Commission introduced new legislation, and are moving immediately to amend the proposals in the Council of Ministers and in the European Parliament. In this case, we are moving three years too late when most of the ministers are in the Council and members of the European Parliament,” Agius said. “The European Parliament has already taken their decisions.”
Transport Minister Ian Borg then said Malta would support its trucking companies in fighting EU rules that would force them to provide a paid rest period of about 45 hours every three to four consecutive weeks, at “the employer’s facility or at the drivers’ workplace.” . residence”.
The rules will also force companies to return trucks to company headquarters every eight weeks, in a move aimed at preventing transport companies from trying to register in other EU countries to take advantage of lower taxes.
Maltese companies believe the rules will cost them between €500,000 and €1 million due to the need to buy more trucks and employ more people.
But the European Commission’s original proposal has been on the table since May 2017, and MEPs have discussed it five times in the European Parliament. Malta has already been accused of expressing its objections late on the issue, and of failing to coordinate better in the early stages of these laws by meeting stakeholders and members of the European Parliament.
Better working conditions for drivers
The new rules will help ensure better comfort conditions for drivers and allow them to spend more time at home, by forcing companies to bring back drivers in international freight transport every three or four weeks.
The mandatory weekend rest period, known as a regular weekly rest, cannot be taken in the truck cab. If this break is taken away from home, the company must pay for the accommodation.
The rules will also ensure fairer competition and fight illegal practices by using vehicle tachographs to record border crossings in the fight against fraud, as well as limiting coastal navigation to three operations within seven days.
An interim agreement was already reached between the Council Presidency and the European Parliament in December 2019. The Transport Committee supported the agreement with EU ministers for the first time on 21 January. The Council adopted the reform on April 7.
