Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-10-08-Speech-3-283"
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"en.20081008.27.3-283"2
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"Ladies and gentlemen, the European Parliament is today discussing the implementation of, and the possible ways of further developing, the Directive on the working time of persons performing mobile road activities. This specific legislation organises the working time of persons performing mobile road activities, such as bus drivers and lorry drivers. However, the Directive does not include self-employed drivers.
Many Members will recall that the Directive was adopted in 2002 following an arduous conciliation procedure, on the basis of which a complex clause was approved. This clause establishes that with effect from 23 March 2009 the scope of the Directive will be extended to include all self-employed drivers if the Commission sends a report to the Council and the European Parliament concerning an impact assessment of the present circumstances under which self-employed drivers are not included, and drafts a legislative proposal concerning self-employed drivers.
Although the question of whether or not to include self-employed drivers in the scope of the Directive is a genuine dilemma, let me say that it is also a false problem. The Commission’s main aim when drafting a legislative proposal concerning road transport working conditions is to ensure a high level of social protection and fair competition as well as improve road safety. Consequently, the Commission considered it necessary to introduce a special regime for road transport mobile workers through a specific law accompanying the general Directive on working time.
However, the post-2002 provisions of the legislation concerning drivers have changed significantly and it has been a positive change. Thanks to your help, and Mr Markov’s help in particular, new rules on driving times, rest periods and inspection procedures were adopted in 2005.
While the Working Time Directive adopted in 2002 originally applied only to employed drivers, the rules adopted in 2005 apply to all drivers, both employed and self-employed. The rules apply to 80% of the working time of all drivers. Consequently, Parliament’s founded concerns about this issue which were voiced in the course of the conciliation procedure for the 2002 Working Time Directive were properly allayed. Regarding the revision of the 2002 Working Time Directive, it is no secret that the attitudes of the individual Member States to this issue are very different and that opinions are also divided within the Member States and within the transport sector.
The Commission published its report on the consequences of the exclusion of self-employed drivers from the scope of the Directive in May 2007. The report reached two conclusions. Firstly, it stated that there were both advantages and disadvantages of including and excluding self-employed drivers. Secondly, the implementation of the Directive had caused some problems because the Member States had found it difficult to enforce it. This problem was chiefly due to the mistaken classification of some drivers as self-employed. This is how the transport sector describes those drivers who, although officially self-employed, are in reality dependent on one company and are unable to plan their work themselves as they would like to do. They are socially vulnerable and, as I said before, although the Directive applies to them already, we need to see significant improvements in its implementation. The Commission very carefully monitored the transposition of the Directive into national legislation and, when necessary, commenced proceedings where breaches were observed. As soon as the Member States completed the transposition of the Directive into national legislation, we performed a thorough check of the quality of this transposition. In many cases this resulted in the commencement of proceedings where breaches of duty were observed.
At present the Commission is also carrying out an impact assessment with a view to establishing a compact basis for a legislative proposal to be developed this year. Consequently, it would be premature for the Commission to adopt already a view on those aspects of the issues concerning self-employed drivers that pose the question of whether or not to include them in the scope of the Working Time Directive.
I welcome the report by Mr Cercas, particularly the developments concerning the issue of transposition. However, as I said before, the Commission is of the opinion that the solution put forward in the report does not take into account the problem of the full and correct transposition of the Directive for the workers it already covers. This is what we have been working on up until now and what we hope to achieve with the next amendment."@en1
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