EU – Baltic States, Lithuania, Transport, Truck haulage

The country's Transport Minister Jaroslav Narkevic met with haulers' representatives on Thursday and said such a complaint is being drafted, adding that Lithuania has not decided yet whether to lodge it together with the Mobility Package's opponents.

"We took various actions before for it (the Mobility Package's coming into force – BNS) not to happen. But we said that if it was adopted, we are getting ready for the appeal and this action is now being implemented," Narkevic told journalists today.

In his words, the government plans to decide on lodging such a complaint and then the Justice Ministry would be ordered to prepare it.

According to participants of the meeting, certain provision of the Mobility Package came into force this week, including the requirement to have rest outside a truck's cabin.

Narkevic says that taking into account the spread of the coronavirus, spending nights inside a truck's cabin is the most acceptable option.

"The hotel situation is complicated as there are fewer of them. Second, their owners are cautious about drivers due to COVID-19," he said.

Agne Margeviciute, board chair of the International Transport and Logistics Alliance, says the requirement to have rest outside truck cabins should be temporarily suspended in the pandemic context.

"EU institutions should be approached to at least postpone those provisions that came ito force today (on Thursday), until the COVID-19 situation improves," Margeviciute.

The European Parliament adopted the Mobility Package in July. 

The most contentious provision is that requiring trucks to return to their country of registration every eight weeks.

Western Europeans say the mandatory return of trucks will help combat the practice of registering fictitious transport companies in lower-tax countries. 

Lithuanian haulers and the government say that Western Europeans are seeking to push their competitors out of the market and that the mandatory return of trucks will increase road pollution.