BG

BULGARIA AND 5 OTHER EUROPEAN STATES SENT A LETTER REQUESTING A REVIEW OF THE MOBILITY I PACKAGE

18.10.2019

The European Council will continue to discuss the topic of enlargement of the EU before the EU-Western Balkans Summit, to be held in May in Zagreb in the framework of the Croatian Presidency. This decision was adopted by the leaders of the European Council today in accordance with the proposal of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, which was agreed upon and endorsed by the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. "This is especially relevant for the Republic of North Macedonia and Albania," Prime Minister Borissov said and added: "We already have a sentence that supports this perspective, which we have insisted on so much. I proposed it and my colleagues gladly accepted it.”

 

Prime Minister Borissov also announced to media outlets that Bulgaria and five other countries - Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Romania and Hungary - have sent a letter to the European Parliament and to the European Commission regarding the Mobility I package, with the aim for it to be reviewed. "So many patches have been added to it that it has already lost its original meaning," Prime Minister Boyko Borissov was certain.

 

The letter, initiated by the six European countries, including Bulgaria, states that an inclusive discussion that takes into account the national specificities of all Member States, including those located at the external borders of the EU, is needed. "We should not adopt measures creating unnecessary divisions in the EU. We are firmly convinced that the new legislative measures should be realistic, proportionate and non-discriminatory. They have to preserve the competitiveness of the EU road transport sector by not putting our companies in worse position than companies, originating from third countries," the letter said. It is also indicated that some of the proposals in the Package will lead to an increase in the number of empty runs of trucks, which automatically means additional hundreds of thousands of tons of CO2 emissions per year.

 

The six prime ministers call on the co-legislators and the European Commission to carefully re-assess the proposals related to the Mobility I Package and conduct impact assessments of all the discussed amendments before proceeding with the negotiations.