Sounds pretty technical

By Jonathan Packroff

Welcome to the Transport Brief!

With only a few weeks left ahead of the last session of the European Parliament in April, most of what is left on the EU legislative agenda is considered very ‘technical’ by many observers.

One example is the “Weights and Dimensions Directive”, which regulates how long and heavy trucks can be.

But even behind the most technical name, sometimes there are deep political conflicts.

In this case, it’s a trade-off between allowing heavier and longer trucks in order to help electrification of road freight transport – or not to, as freight should also be shifted to railways.

The directive was adopted by the responsible transport committee last week, with a vote set in the Parliament‘s plenary on 11 March.

Olivia Gyapong has the story here.

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Rome is taking Austria to the EU courts over motorway restrictions at their shared border, a measure introduced to protect residents in Tyrol that has proved unpopular with lorry drivers heading to Germany.

The Czech steel industry is unprepared for decarbonisation, not only technologically but also financially, making it difficult to implement the EU’s decarbonisation plans, experts say.

The European Commission has approved Germany’s €4 billion scheme to green industrial production by deliberately inflating carbon prices, although the sum is a far cry from Berlin’s initial vision.

The European Parliament’s environment committee has greenlit a new law to drastically reduce the number of newly sold diesel trucks in Europe, after a deal with Germany was struck between EU ambassadors last Friday (9 February).

The transportation committee of the European Parliament confirmed a position supporting longer and heavier trucks on roads on Wednesday (14 February).

[Edited by Alice Taylor]

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Drop me a line at jonathan.packroff@euractiv.de or contact me on Twitter: and @Jonpackroff