Debate: Poor sanitary conditions, low levels of security and lack of parking places in rest areas for truck drivers
Date: THURSDAY, 5 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Johannes Hahn
Language: EN

The COVID pandemic was a stark reminder that road transport drivers are essential. When transport came to a halt, truck drivers proved to be crucial in providing us with vaccines and essential goods to fill the shelves of our supermarkets in bringing food to our tables and keeping our economies running. The daily job is crucial for our society, and it is our responsibility to ensure that they can both work and rest safely and securely. Deployment of safe and secure parking spaces is one of the elements contributing to the improvement of driver working conditions, which is key to sustaining and attracting workforce to the sector, which is facing significant driver shortages. Let me guide you through the different measures that the Commission has taken in the last years to address this important topic. First, when it comes to legislation, EU standards for safe and secure parking areas have now become law, thanks to the Delegated Act, which was adopted in April 2022 and is in force since July 2022. The standards have been carefully drafted in coordination with representatives of drivers, road transport companies, parking operators, etc. They include: four levels of security (brown, silver, gold and platinum) with the necessary security deterrents; these different levels will allow operators to choose according to the value of the goods they carry. Further, a common level of service regardless of the level of security; this includes important facilities for the comfort of drivers, such as showers, toilets, shops to purchase food and drinks, internet connections, etc. Finally, certification rules to ensure compliance with the union standards, which include an independent external auditor and regular audits. We believe these new EU standards will greatly incentivise the development of a much-needed EU-wide network of safe and secure parking areas across Europe. I am glad to see that the market is interested and, since its entry into force, 20 new parking areas have been certified. As came out clearly from the debate on Monday on ensuring European transportation works for women, safe and secure parking areas are especially important for female drivers. But we can’t wait for the market to develop the secure parking areas. We want to accelerate the rollout and this is why we are providing financial support. Under the Connecting Europe Facility, we are supporting the upgrade of existing parking areas or the construction of new ones that meet the union standards. Since 2019, 52 projects were selected for funding, providing more than 7 000 additional safe and secure parking spots in Europe. Under the CEF Transport calls for proposals published last week on 26 September, the Commission will continue to make available EUR 150 million for this priority under the cohesion envelope, and another EUR 100 million under the general envelope. In the previous call, we selected four projects with high maturity and quality that concern parking areas in Belgium, Slovenia and Spain, and we expect more interest this year. Financial support to accelerate new parking areas is important, but the Commission believes we need to go one step further. Unfortunately, today there is no EU-wide legal requirement for Member States to provide safe and secure parking areas on their territory. This shouldn’t be a problem if there were a sufficient number of parking areas. But the sad reality is that it’s not the case, with notable differences between Member States. There is a general lack of appropriate spaces where drivers can have reasonable facilities in all Member States. This is why, in the context of the revision of the TEN-T Regulation, the Commission proposed to introduce a clear obligation for Member States to have safe and secure parking areas on the TEN-T core network at a maximum distance of 100 km by the end of 2040, extending the obligation to all of the TEN-T network by 2050. The general approach of the Council removed this legal obligation and instead called on Member States to give their best effort, and completely deleted the 2050 target. Parliament’s position goes even further than our proposal by bringing forward the deadlines by ten years. The Commission is of the opinion that this is an opportunity we cannot miss. I call on the legislators to at least agree on the legal obligation during the trilogues. This is a crucial element for the well-being and good working conditions for drivers. But it should also be one for businesses, which will have reassurance that the drivers are safe and the goods are being transported safely. If we are not able to provide drivers with basic needs for doing their work, then we should not be surprised that people don’t want to come and work in this sector. With that, I thank you for inviting the Commission on this crucial topic concerning the well-being of our truck drivers, and I’m looking forward to the debate and your comments.