OREANDA-NEWS. IRU briefs on impact to road transport of border controls in the EU.

At a meeting of the European Parliament Working Group on Cross-border Cooperation IRU briefed MEPs, European Commission representatives, Member States and industry on the impact on commercial road transport of reintroduced border controls.

Marc Billiet who leads IRU’s EU freight transport work advised that the transport sector was facing costs in excess of EUR5bn, notwithstanding the negative impact on tourism and trade. He stressed that the sector was facing additional waiting times at borders, longer routes, contract penalties and lost business opportunities. In addition, he highlighted the disproportionate obligations imposed on operators such as carrying out passenger identity controls and taking precautionary measures against stowaways.

IRU repeated its call to the European Commission to pay more attention to the concerns of the commercial road transport sector and take meaningful measures to alleviate the negative impacts. This should include encouraging Member States to guarantee minimal disruption to commercial road transport at border controls. Additionally closer cooperation between Member States, facilitated by the European Commission, to tackle the international refugee crisis is essential.