In a compromise, the House is now suggesting that the Commission should only allow the use of mega-liners for certain routes. An evaluation of the requests would have to respect factors such as the existing infrastructures and safety aspects. The use of mega-liners should, consequently, be permitted under strict conditions only.
Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot told MEPs that the Commission would take a decision after a study regarding experiences with mega-liners and only after a thorough exchange of views on this issue with all those concerned.
During the debate, there were different issues to be approached, in terms of agreement on the report’s approval. Some voices rose against the report being adopted, as an imbalance would be created, as follows the great freight volume to be carried by trucks. Secondly, the mega-trucks transportation should not be allowed in mountain areas and agglomerations at all, as some MEPs suggested.
On the other side, the innovations transport concepts should only be welcome and the transport companies should use them to a maximum capacity, as some MEPs sustained.
