New weekend lorry ban plan drawn up

Date: 18/11/1999

By Renée Cordes

TRANSPORT Commissioner Loyola de Palacio will next week recommend that member states be allowed to maintain tough national restrictions on weekend truck driving as she attempts to salvage one of her predecessor's most controversial proposals.

Under the revised plan, EU governments would be allowed to ban lorries from transporting goods on major international routes at weekends.

They would, however, have to notify planned driving restrictions well in advance to give companies time to make the necessary preparations.

De Palacio will also call on governments to agree a harmonised list of vehicles would be exempted from any such restrictions.

The Commissioner's proposals are aimed at overcoming opposition to the plan led by France, Italy and Germany, which blocked attempts by former transport supremo Neil Kinnock to introduce Union-wide rules which would have prevented member states from banning lorries from their roads for more than 15 hours each weekend.

The move was aimed at harmonising a patchwork of national restrictions and promoting the free movement of goods in the single market. But it would have forced some countries to ease their driving restrictions. Seven member states already impose limits on weekend lorry traffic and those with the most stringent measures insist they are vital to ease traffic congestion and combat pollution.

While Helsinki has already admitted that it will not be able to broker a compromise on the proposals by the end of its EU presidency, Commission officials are optimistic that at least some of the countries which opposed Kinnock's proposals will sign up to his successor's plan. "We realise that some countries do not want bans, but we need to have some sets of rules for the greater good. Some rules are better than anarchy," said one.

Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio is to recommend that Member States be allowed to maintain tough national restrictions on weekend truck driving as she attempts to salvage one of her predecessor's most controversial proposals.