Brussels warns that UK demands on haulage are too close to single-market rights. Brussels has rejected the UK’s opening demands for continued wide-ranging access to the EU for British truckers, setting the stage for a clash when Brexit trade negotiations resume.
UK road haulage groups warned that failure to strike a deal by the end of the post-Brexit transition on December 31 would hurt hauliers and businesses on both side of the Channel, driving up costs and reducing availability for pan-EU supply chains.
The European Commission has told EU member states that the British request for trucking access was “fundamentally unbalanced”.
The UK wants British truckers to be allowed to continue making pick-ups and drop-offs both inside EU member states — known as “cabotage” — and between them, according to two people familiar with the negotiations.
Two stops is a reasonable ask in order to keep trade moving. And if the EU don’t agree to that it will constrain the ability of EU hauliers to come to the UK, which will act reciprocally.
Richard Burnett, Road Haulage Association
The commission has warned member states that the UK request for cabotage rights is too similar to pre-Brexit levels of access to the EU single market and does not commit to enough level playing-field guarantees to ensure EU hauliers are not undercut.
“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,” said a person briefed on the talks. “We cannot allow the UK to maintain pretty much the same access as it has today,” another added.
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