Polish Companies Concerned About The Changes Regarding Transport Put Forward By CE

The European Commission is preparing legal provisions on transport in the European Union. One of the goals is to regulate the issue of drivers’ work in international transport which, as Polish transport companies claim, is to push them off the Western market. The EC explains introduction of the proposed changes is a response to problems concerning social regulations in EU countries.

The problem of Polish transport companies started when Austria, France and Germany adopted regulations on minimum wage. The EC commented on the changes arguing that the introduced provisions (that assume all drivers performing deliveries in the territory of a country will be subject to the state minimum wage) are detrimental to the functioning of the single market.

According to unofficial information, the EC currently wants to sort the issue by introducing new EU laws. The suggested changes would assume that drivers who perform international deliveries will be subject to the minimum wage terms of a given country after exceeding a certain number of days a month spent in the member state. Further dispute regards the issue of how long is to be the period preceding introducing work on minimum wage terms of a given country. Most of the Western Europe wants the period to last three days. Eastern transport companies argue in favour of a week-long period or longer.

The issue is important, as for Polish transportation companies exceeding a certain financial threshold may be a matter of life or death – a driver staying for a longer period of time e.g. in France will have to receive French wage rates. Although the changes may appear beneficial for drivers, taking into account low margins of the entrepreneurs from Eastern Europe, introduction of the changes may push them into bankruptcy. According to the President of International Road Drivers’ Association in Poland, Jan Buczek, EU is now only safeguarding the interests of the Western countries.