The publication on Friday of the Mobility Package 01 in the Official Journal of the European Union sentences to death the Romanian road freight transport in the EU member states, according to a press statement of the National Union of Romanian Road Transporters (UNTRR).

Romanian and Eastern transport operators will be most affected, as the proposals in the Mobility Package 01 make it impossible for Eastern Europe companies to carry out international road transport in Western Europe."

"In the next two years, Romania will lose over 5% of GDP due to the migration of international road transport activity (...) Road transport, the main contributor to Romania's export of services in recent years, is the most active and dynamic part of the economy of Romania, which is now cut by Western Europe: companies, managers, employees and their families, most between 25 and 45 years old, will migrate to countries such as Germany (where for each child allowances are offered of almost 200 euros/ month), The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Spain, Austria. In the medium and long term, Romania will lose about 200,000 professional drivers, including their families, and will face an unprecedented crisis in the labour market, and we estimate that we will lose 30% of transport operators. Romanians who will not be able to survive the coronavirus crisis and half of the remaining companies operating international road transport will leave Romania before 18 months, the deadline for the entry into force of all the provisions of the Mobility Package 01," according to UNTRR.

UNTRR is calling on the Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure and Communications and the European Commission to urgently clarify the rules that will enter into force on August 20, namely to explain how to prove the return home of Romanian drivers and to confirm that it can be organised at logistics centers rented or owned by the Romanian transport companies in Western Europe, as well as the penalties for non-compliance with the provision, says the document.

UNTRR mentions the main provisions of the Mobility Package 01 it considers discriminatory against Romanian road hauliers and some of which enter into force on August 20: the regulation on the minimum requirements on maximum daily and weekly driving times, minimum breaks and daily and weekly rest; the regulation regarding the positioning of smart tachographs; the obligation on the drivers to return home every 3 or 4 weeks and the prohibition of the normal weekly rest in the truck; the regulation regarding the obligation to return the trucks home every eight weeks; cabotage restrictions (applies from February 21, 2022); the directive on the application of secondment to international road transport of the cabotage and cross-trade type. AGERPRES (RO - author: George Coman, editor: Oana Tilica; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Cristina Zaharia)