WARSAW, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The European Parliament adopted at the first reading on Thursday the Mobility Package, which is expected to hurt Polish hauling companies.
One of the main changes introduced by the package is that drivers on international routes have to be paid the minimum wage of the country they drive in from the first day of the trip, as opposed to the pay in their home country, which was possible so far.
The package also limits the number of days in a row a driver can spend transporting between countries other than the one his firm is based in. The new regulations impose better working conditions for drivers, including the obligation that their weekly rest should take place in a hotel rather than the lorry.
The Mobility Package is expected to hurt eastern European transport companies by significantly increasing their operating costs. Since the EU expanded eastward, eastern European firms have made huge inroads on the European transport market, at the expense of their western counterparts.
Polish operators would be especially hard hit as they hold the biggest share of the European international transport market. The Polish government has been opposing the adoption of the package.
"The European Parliament has adopted the Mobility Package breaking its own rules and under political pressure. We will certainly complain about the voting procedure itself to the European Court of Justice," Kosma Zlotowski, a member of the European Parliament representing the Poland's governing Law and Justice Party, was quoted as saying after Thursday's vote by the daily Rzeczpospolita.
The Mobility Package will now be negotiated between the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Council of the European Union.
