BREXIT TRADE TALKS HIT ROAD BLOCK
EU bosses have threatened to curb British truckers’ access to European roads as the deadlock over a Brexit trade deal deepens.
The bloc’s negotiators are set to reject a request for the current rules for British drivers to remain in place after the UK’s departure.
European Commission sources dismissed the request as “fundamentally unbalanced” and hinted at a move to impose restrictions on UK lorry drivers once the post-Brexit transition out of EU rules ends.
Furious
But the threat has triggered anger in the UK, with one Tory MP accusing Brussels of “clutching at straws to bolster up its extremely weak negotiating position”.
Haulage bosses in both the UK and EU warned tougher restrictions on truckers will cause job losses in the industry and price rises for consumers.
The furious row erupted yesterday as the formal negotiations continued in Brussels.
Boris Johnson’s chief negotiator David Frost and his EU counterpart Michel
Barnier failed to break the deadlock in the talks during a meeting in the Belgian capital earlier this week.
Mr Barnier has told officials in EU member states the UK wants to maintain future access for British truckers to the bloc’s market.
He claimed the request was part of Mr Johnson’s bid to secure a Brexit deal with “single market-like benefits”.
Under the British plan, lorries will continue to be able to pick up and drop off goods inside the EU, known as “cabotage” in the industry.
Mr Frost’s negotiating team are expected to point out that failure to agree a road haulage package in the negotiations could prove costly to the EU.
Costly
The UK wants full transit rights for its truckers crossing the EU as well as the ability to make two dropoffs inside the bloc’s member nations.
Brussels’ proposed rules for UK truckers would restrict them to three cabotage operations across different states within seven days.
A UK Government source said: “We’re not asking for single market access.
“EU hauliers carry out seven times more cabotage in the UK than vice-versa.”
Brexit-supporting Tory MP Philip Hollobone said: “The EU is skating on very thin ice because almost 100 per cent of the roll-on, roll-off lorry traffic between Ireland and the continent crosses the UK. If they are going to start banning UK lorries from crossing Europe any kind of retaliatory measure would have severe consequences for the Irish economy.
“It seems to me the EU is clutching at straws to bolster up its extremely weak negotiating position.”
British officials also pointed out that the European haulage industry could suffer more than the UK’s if the Government imposes tit-for-tat restrictions on drivers from the bloc.
In 2018 UK hauliers made only 15 per cent of the 2.4 million HGV trips through UK ports.
Some officials from EU member states, including the French and Dutch, have argued that granting easy access to British lorries would create unfair competition within the bloc. A Brussels insider briefed on the talks said: “The Commission view is that the UK request is fundamentally unbalanced and would give rights to UK hauliers that are extremely close to single market membership.”
Haulage industry chiefs were furious about the EU threat last night.
Richard Burnett, of the Road Haulage Association, said:
“The Government is trying to provide symmetry but in terms of market access the
EU’s position is far more damaging because of the balance, or imbalance, of trade. Eight-five per cent of the volume of goods that come into the UK is moved by European hauliers. UK operators are responsible for the movement of only 15 per cent.
Freight Transport Association of Ireland’s Aidan Flynn said: “Reducing the capability to carry out cabotage in Great Britain will have consequences such as increasing the cost of distribution.
“This will lead to job losses as well as the potential reflagging of Irish operations to the UK.”
HEARING Michel Barnier and the EU use the term “fundamentally unbalanced” to describe a British proposal, we know that means they are trying to block something that is completely fair and reasonable.
The latest saga over the attempts to restrict British lorry drivers’ access to EU roads is just such a case and one that shows Brussels has no interest in coming to a mutually fair trade deal.
Of course, as is the case with so many of the EU demands, they are more likely to harm themselves – because seven times more EU lorries enter Britain than British trucks enter the EU. Good luck to EU lorry drivers going to and from Ireland.
The problem since the 2016 referendum is that Mr Barnier and the other fat cat Eurocrats have only wanted to agree anything that humiliates Britain and represents an abject surrender to EU rule.
But as the end of August approaches, time is running out to persuade Barnier and his friends to come to a reasonable agreement.
And if the EU will only accept a one-sided agreement that is unreasonable to British lorry drivers and other sectors, then it is obvious that such a deal would not be worth signing.
At some point the farce has to end, and it looks increasingly likely that a no deal will be better for Britain than a deal that would be acceptable to the skewed vision of Mr Barnier.