The working conditions of European truck drivers are notoriously difficult.
Before the COVID-19 crisis, 37 per cent of truck driver jobs in the EU freight sector were vacant. Long-distance truck drivers are expected to put up with difficult working conditions like eating home-prepared food in highway rest areas, improperly parking their trucks or allegedly sleeping in their cabin without showering for weeks.
The European Commission has, for the past three years, been trying to address the social and economic challenges faced by these truck drivers.
The European Council and the European Parliament recently approved the Mobility Package that brings about welcome changes in drivers’ working conditions.
On the other side of the coin though, the new rules will have a negative impact on European citizens’ interests in having reasonable and affordable freight transport services.
The Council’s decision to introduce these changes was not unanimous. The transport ministers of Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Malta, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania believe that the new transport regulations go against their countries’ interests.
In a strongly worded joint statement just before the Mobility Package was approved by the EP, they argued that the EU was introducing these legislative provisions without a thorough economic impact assessment.
They added: “The new provisions disrupt the EU single market by introducing artificial administrative barriers. At the same time, they go against the EU’s ambitious climate goals.”
The European Commission in a statement expressed concern that the new rules went counter to the European Green Deal objectives because of the excessive, unnecessary travel that trucks will have to cover to adhere to the Mobility Package conditions. It is calculated that the new regulations will lead to 25 per cent of trucks circulating empty on European highways.
A third of member states including Malta are, therefore, asking the Council to remedy the unfairness of this legislation, failing which they will be compelled to take legal action against the EU.
International road transport unions are right in insisting that the conditions of work need to be improved to ease the shortage of truck drivers. But this has to be done in a creative way with the minimum impact on the interests of other EU citizens.
Rather than create administrative barriers, the EU should be encouraging haulage companies and their drivers to work unhindered wherever their services are needed.
At the same time, it is also essential that the truck driver profession is made more secure, better remunerated and less bureaucratic. The incidence of social dumping in this industry is a reality that needs to be addressed with more determination.
Admittedly, the problem of social dumping – where Western businesses recruit low-paid workers from Eastern countries to maximise their profits – is also prevalent in other industries like construction. The introduction of decent levels of living wages in all EU countries will do more to reduce the incidence of social dumping.
The timing of the introduction of the Mobility Package is an added challenge for the post-COVID economic recovery of many member states.
In the last three years, the Maltese government could have taken a more determined stance in combating the more negative aspects of the Mobility Package. The same criticism applies to the six local MEPs.
It is now the right time to combine our efforts with those of the other eight member states that feel that the Mobility Package is impacting their economies and citizens negatively.