ESTA has published a new position paper on Military Mobility as it pushes Brussels to deliver on its promise of efficient and common heavy transport regulations for both military and industrial use.
The paper strongly backs the EU’s recently published Military Mobility Package, but contains recommendations on how to improve them further and to ensure that the measures are operationally practical.
The position paper was sent to representatives of DG Move, the European Parliament and the Council last week.
ESTA said that it especially welcomes the inclusion of civilian abnormal road transport operators in the Package; the proposed new transport provisions such as a standard permitting procedure; and short deadlines for ad hoc procedures.
But ESTA has also stressed that the European decision makers should at the same time finalise the revision of the Weights and Dimensions Directive and introduce further harmonisation of rules on abnormal transport.
ESTA Director Ton Klijn said: “We have written to our members asking them to share the position paper with their own national authorities, regulators and politicians as we try to ensure that this opportunity is not lost as the reforms are essential for Europe’s industrial success and military security.”
ESTA’s position paper again stresses the importance of civilian abnormal transport for military mobility. It says: “The transport of heavy and oversized military equipment relies on civilian operators and mobile cranes. Solutions limited to purely military assets will not work in practice.”
The paper calls for:
- fast, predictable and harmonised military transport permits within a single EU framework
- targeted exemptions for civilian operators in crisis situations, such as exemption from traffic bans, cabotage restrictions and environmental rules
- driving and resting time rules to be made flexible and workable in emergencies.
- increased investment in dual-use infrastructure
- critical infrastructure to be clearly marked indicating abnormal transport capacity.
The paper additionally calls for legal clarity for civilian transport companies and their operators and for civilian expertise to be integrated into governance bodies such as the National Coordinators for Cross-Border Military Transport and the Military Mobility Transport Group.
The Military Mobility Package is currently being discussed by the European Parliament and the Council before entering the Trilogue negotiations between the Parliament, the Council and the European Commission.
The goal of the Trilogue negotiations is to reach agreement on new EU laws faster by ironing out differences before the formal legislative readings are completed. Each institution puts forward any amendments they wish to propose and the talks will aim to agree a single compromise text which can then be formally approved by Parliament and the Council.
Klijn added: “This work is extremely important and we hope that all involved appreciate its urgency. ESTA will continue to actively advocate for finalising the work on the Military Mobility Package as soon as possible, and by the end of this year at the latest.”
Work on some dual-use transport infrastructure projects is already underway as part of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).
The full position paper is in the public Library part of ESTA’s website: https://estaeurope.eu/docs/library/transport/