site.btaBulgarian, Polish and Hungarian Road Hauliers Issue Joint Declaration against EU Mobility Package

Sofia, May 15 (BTA) - Three road transport organizations from Bulgaria, Poland and Hungary issued a joint declaration on Tuesday protesting against some aspects of the European Commission's Mobility Package. Bulgaria's Union of International Hauliers, Transport and Logistics Poland, and the Federation of National Private Carriers - NiT Hungary, all of which are members the Alliance for the Future of Transport, adopted the declaration during an international conference on "The European Future of the Transport Sector of Central and Eastern Europe", which was held in Sofia.

The declaration came after Bulgarian Transport Minister Ivaylo Moskovski called for concerted efforts from all countries which will be adversely affected by the Mobility Package. It is feared that the Package will increase the expenses of Bulgarian and other Eastern European road hauliers and will thus undermine their competitiveness.

The declaration says that according to Article 26 of the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the Union "shall adopt measures with the aim of establishing or ensuring the functioning of the internal market." Article 26 also says: "The internal market shall comprise an area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is ensured in accordance with the provisions of the Treaties." This key role of the EU should be taken into account, the three organizations insist.

They say in their joint declaration that the requirement for truckers to return home once every three weeks for their mandatory rest is in stark violation of the right to free movement of persons in the EU. Bulgaria, Poland and Hungary are also unanimous that the posting of workers is not an appropriate work model for international transport drivers due to the very mobile nature of their work. The proposal for posted drivers to be paid according to the rates applicable in the countries through which they pass will lead to discrimination even against drivers from the same company, the declaration warns.

It is unacceptable to ban drivers from spending their weekly rest in their trucks when there is no infrastructure to meet their needs, the three organizations say. They are also unanimous on the matter of cabotage (transporting goods between two places in the same member state by a transport operator from another member state). They argue that the proposed liberalization of cabotage by setting a temporary framework of five days and allowing an unlimited number of transport operations is unacceptable and self-defeating, because it is practically impossible to perform an "unlimited number" of transport operations in just five days.

Opening the Sofia conference, Bulgarian Transport Minister Ivaylo Moskovski urged the countries which will be affected adversely by the EU Mobility Package to take a common stance before the European Commission.

Moskovski said transport is a socially significant sector of the Bulgarian economy generating one-fifth of the country's GDP, directly employing over 100,000 people and also playing an indirect role.

He recalled that after the so-called "Macron law" was proposed last year, 14 EU member states insisted that transport should be excluded from the package. He said: "Unfortunately, things not only didn't improve but the proposed packages, specifically Package 1, which is being considered now, has seen a very large gap between the views of three or four countries of Western Europe and all the rest. We are convinced that a consensus-based solution should be found about these rules. As Europeans, we find it unacceptable to adopt restrictive measures under pressure from three or four countries."

Addressing the Polish and Hungarian guests at the conference, Moskovski said that these proposals affect small countries like Bulgaria, but if nothing is done about that, they may turn against other nations as well. "The best way out is for all our countries to take a common stance," he noted. He warned that if each country keeps acting on its own, it may solve its own problems but this is not enough.

Moskovski recalled the controversial aspects of the intended regulation and pointed to the proposals made by Bulgaria to the European Commission, noting that these proposals have met with full support from European Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc. The four Bulgarian proposals were made public at a news briefing on Monday following a nearly three-hour meeting between Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, Commissioner Bulc, Transport Minister Moskovski and representatives of road transport companies. They concern drivers' pay and rest, cabotage, and transportation to and from non-EU countries.

Moskovski argued: "There is a covert policy of restriction aimed against you [Eastern European drivers], which is disguised by nice words trying to suggest that the Mobility Package will give drivers better working conditions." He identified the steps that should be taken to make sure that the European Parliament adopts a decision which is good for Bulgaria.

Angel Trakov, Chairman of the Management Board of Bulgaria's Union of International Hauliers, said the Bulgarian Presidency of the EU Council is conducting constructive dialogue on EU regulations. Trakov said his organization will make every effort to solve the problems, because otherwise there will be mass bankruptcies and many Bulgarian drivers will have to look for jobs in Western European companies. "The changes are more of a plan to secure transport workers for Older Europe by destroying the transport sector in the countries of Eastern Europe," he commented. He thanked the Prime Minister and the Transport Minister for their support.

To make themselves heard, road hauliers will stage peaceful protests in Sofia and 10 other Bulgarian cities on May 17, when the capital will host an EU-Western Balkans Summit.

Georgi Svilenski, Deputy Floor Leader of the BSP For Bulgaria parliamentary group, told a news conference that the government failed for more than a year to take a stand on the Mobility Package and defend the rights of Bulgarian road hauliers. According to Svilenski, it was only after the National Assembly passed a resolution last Friday that the Prime Minister finally took action and talked with the European Commissioner for Transport, who encouraged Bulgaria to put forward its proposals so they can be discussed. "This means that until yesterday the Bulgarian government had no position and no proposals, had said nothing about what they wanted in order to protect the Bulgarian hauliers, and now that there are only about 10 days left until the May 24 vote in the Transport Committee [of the European Parliament], they have to submit their proposals, but they cannot do it in time for the proposals to be considered and put to the vote [in the EP Transport Committee]," Svilenski said.

He concluded: "The Bulgarian road hauliers have been betrayed by their own minister and prime minister." On Wednesday, BSP For Bulgaria will call Prime Minister Borissov to Parliament to explain what his government has done to defend the Bulgarian road hauliers, Svilenski said.