Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-06-15-Speech-2-009"
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"en.20100615.4.2-009"2
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"The proposal put forward is intended to amend Directive 2002/15/EC in connection with social protection. The Commission’s proposal touches on three issues: the exemption of self-employed hauliers from the scope of the law, the provision of a more precise definition for night work and support for the application of the law. The directive itself and, hence, its amendment, are supplementary in nature and only apply to vehicles over 3.5 tonnes, like other laws applicable to road transport activities. Therefore, it could not extend to drivers of smaller commercial vehicles. The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs voted against the amendment (30 to 19 votes).
Several misapprehensions arose while the law was being drafted. I would like to address a few of those which may have influenced MEPs. First of all, experts have reached the unanimous conclusion that if the Commission’s proposal is rejected, resulting in the directive’s scope being extended to also include self-employed hauliers, it will not improve road safety. Available statistical data and studies on accidents show that only 6% of accidents are caused by the fault of lorry drivers, and fatigue is cited as a reason in only 0.06% of cases. Also, driving time, which has a real effect on road safety, is regulated by a different act of law, Regulation (EC) No 561/2006, which also applies to self-employed hauliers. Loading time is of a supplementary nature and cannot be regarded as a significant part of working time, as the law does not apply, for instance, to journeys under 100 km. Secondly, trade unions fear that self-employed hauliers could even work up to 86 hours if they are not regulated.
The regulation includes stringent rules on driving time. It is capped at 45 hours per week for any two consecutive weeks, not to exceed 56 hours in any single week. This is accurately recorded by digital tachographs and the regulation also includes detailed rules on rest periods. Therefore, the claim of a possible 86-hour working week is an assumption not supported by any statistical data, study or survey. Thirdly, the Commission’s proposal would limit the scope of the directive to employees and false self-employed hauliers. So far, there has been no law regulating the working time of self-employed entrepreneurs. Working time restriction is an important means for the social protection of employees. However, in the case of self-employed hauliers, the employer and the employee are the same person, and protecting private transporters from themselves is an extreme measure. Fourthly, when the arguments run out, the real reason is revealed: social dumping. Do not be confused by the term, because self-employed hauliers and small enterprises can also be unpleasant competitors on the market, just like self-employed hauliers arriving from new Member States.
My experience is, unfortunately, that the case of the phantom Polish plumber has returned to haunt us. I would like to move on to talk about a common labour market phenomenon that should not be dealt with, and indeed cannot be dealt with exclusively in the field of road transport. This is the issue of false self-employed entrepreneurs, which is a real European problem with adverse effects on competition and the labour market. This is the issue that needs to be addressed, and this expectation was stated clearly in the proposed amendment.
Proposed Amendment 30, tabled on behalf of the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats), the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, the European Conservatives and Reformists and the Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group is based on the Commission’s proposal and is supported by the Council, and I would like to thank the Council for their support. We will vote on the amendment section by section. I would like to add one more thing. As a compromise solution, we recommend allowing each Member State to extend the scope of the directive to self-employed hauliers, if they want to."@en1
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