Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-04-11-Speech-1-136"
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"en.20050411.18.1-136"2
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"Mr President, we in the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe attach a lot of importance to obtaining more effective control and enforcement of the rules on driving time and rest periods. We do not, however, think that there is any point in changing the provisions as such if this leads not to better rules but only to rules that are complex in a new way, for the regulation of driving time and rest periods is complicated, and must perhaps in the nature of things be so. It is complicated because we have to find a suitable balance between, on the one hand, being able effectively to monitor compliance with the rules with a view to road safety and, on the other hand, the needs of the transport sector and of drivers being able to organise their work in a reasonably flexible way.
I, for my part, must sincerely thank the rapporteur, Mr Markov for the splendid and comprehensive overview he has taken of this complicated material. There are, however, a number of points on which my group disagrees with some of the conclusions contained in the report resulting from the vote in the Committee on Transport and Tourism. These include applying the rules on driving time and rest periods to vehicles under 3.5 tonnes. In our view, this would make transport unnecessarily more expensive without contributing to road safety to a degree that justified the large costs involved in this proposal. It would also be quite difficult for the police to know right away whether an ordinary van was being driven for a firm that needed to have a tachograph installed in it. The proposal to include vehicles under 3.5 tonnes would therefore make monitoring very difficult. It is proposed to exclude from the directive vehicles used in connection with a long list of public supply services, such as sewerage, electricity, water, gas etc. Whether or not this proposal makes sense is questionable, but, if it is to be implemented, the exemption should, it has to be said, apply equally in the case of a private company commissioned by the public sector to carry out a task, for example under licence or following an invitation for tenders.
With regard to long-distance drivers, we also think it right and important for the weekly rest period to be organised more flexibly than the Council has proposed. This applies to the placing of reduced weekly rest periods and the compensatory rest periods. We have therefore tabled an amendment on this subject.
The results of the votes in the committee were very close in a number of areas, and it is therefore exciting to see the committee here in plenary where we need to have the qualified majority mobilised. Subsequently, the issue will be one of whether we can reach a conciliation with the Council. The ALDE Group would like us to arrive at a situation in which an uninterrupted period of rest of 11 hours is obtained, but we do not, however, think that the Council is right in thinking that the interrupted rest period needs only to be three plus nine hours. That is too inflexible and shows signs of too much weight having been given to ease of supervision as a consideration. The Council adheres, of course, to the view that tachographs should be installed from this year but, as matters now stand regarding adoption of the directive and the ability to install the tachographs at the present time, it seems a bit over the top to insist on this date, and we in the ALDE Group are able to support a postponement.
I very much hope that, in the conciliation procedure, we shall find a solution regarding this directive that both meets the need for more effective monitoring and, at the same time, ensures that drivers have sufficient flexibility."@en1
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