EU agrees on minimum rest time for truck drivers 

In a vote on Thursday (2 February), the European Parliament gave its final seal of approval to a compromise agreement with the EU Council of Ministers on a controversial legislative package. The package is about bringing EU member state laws on working conditions for professional drivers into line.

"This legislation is an undeniable improvement that we should all the more grab as numerous governments tried to resist it," said French Socialist MEP Gilles Savary, vice-president of the Parliament's Transport Committee.

However, Savary regretted that the agreed text still makes it possible for bosses to force drivers to take it in turns at the wheel, "one driving, the other having a break on the side and the third taking his daily rest period in the lorry's berth".

In one of the most controversial aspects of the deal, Council and Parliament also agreed on a list of what constitutes a "serious infringement" to the new EU legislation. This includes "exceeding the maximum daily, six-day or fortnightly driving time limits by a margin of 20% or more".

Mathieu Grosch MEP (EPP-ED, Belgium) said "the compromise reached is rather balanced and certainly brings better clarity to the whole spectrum of road haulage and road passenger transport". "I am convinced that in the road transport sector no further regulation is currently needed. The responsibility now lies with the Member States to comply with these existing regulations."