Credit: European Voice

Commissioner Kallas was given a torrid time in the European Parliament yesterday over his decision to allow the Commission to unilaterally reinterpret the rules that could allow Larger Heavier Vehicles (LHV’s) across EU borders.

Currently the maximum size of lorries that are allowed to cross EU borders is 18.75 metres and 40 tonnes; this follows Directive 96/53 that was passed by Council and Parliament. However there is some ambiguous wording in the legislation that has been interpreted by some Member States as allowing trials to be set up between member states and effectively providing legal cover for cross border use. As reported by ECF, this could lead to a domino effect where market pressures and the lure of cheaper haulage means a slow but steady uptake of trials across Europe and an eventual acceptance  of LHV’s everywhere. It was this ambiguity that the Commissioner was looking to clarify.

EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas Credit: EU Observer

However regardless of your opinion on whether these vehicles are good or bad, it requires a genuine democratic discussion and decisions on this to be taken by our elected officials not by the executive; and in the end it was this political decision rather than the technical elements that irked the Parliament and was the focus of their criticism.

Green MEP MR Cramer asked why this was being done when the Consultation to change the actual weights and Dimensions was not even finished? He said that this could ‘…undermine the rule of law in the EU’. Mr El Khadraoui (Socialists and Democrats) said that the consequences of this is important enough that the Commission should provide a new legislative proposal. This was echoed by the Chair Mr Simpson who asked Mr Kallas why if it is was such a good idea was a new proposal not put forward for the Parliament and Council to debate. Mr Kallas in his response said that he will reflect on the views of the Committee before making a decision. This effectively means that the decision still has not been made

So there will be no Megatrucks crossing borders today though the Commission will have to make its mind up whether to defy Parliament and push on or bring it in front of the Parliament and Council for due legislative procedure.

More Information

• For ECF safety paper on this please go here http://ecf.com/files/wp-content/uploads/Megatrucks-safety-paper_ECF_tem.pdf
• For our joint paper on safety with the EAC please go here http://ecf.com/files/wp-content/uploads/EAC-and-ECF-Road-safety-and-96-53-EC.pdf
• Our megatrucks page with more info is here http://ecf.com/road-safety/mega-trucks/

About the Author

•  Ceri Woolsgrove is the ECF Policy Officer for Road Safety & Technical Issues. He is from the UK and has worked extensively in London, Brighton, Liverpool (UK), Hang Zhou (China) and now in Brussels. His previous employment was for an organisation representing the transport industry in Brussels. Ceri has a Master’s degree in Globalization and International Policy Analysis from the University of Bath, and Social and Political Thought from the University of Sussex