MEPs advocate increase in industry charges and consumer prices

Current Members of the European Parliament go to the June European elections with a message to increase road transport industry charges and the cost of consumer goods despite the current economic crisis.
Brussels - The European Parliament voted on 11 March in favour of the revision of the Eurovignette Directive that will lead to increased costs of freight transport in Europe. It has been estimated that the revision of the directive will, in the worst cases, lead to a 25% increase of retail prices, which in these times of economic crisis will not be appreciated by European citizens.
The Members of the European Parliament should instead have called for stopping the revision of the Eurovignette directive or, as a minimum, should have postponed their decision as the current economic crisis has already caused 140,000 job losses and an increase in the bankruptcy rate of more than 110% within the EU road transport industry.
The International Road Transport Union (IRU) now calls upon EU Member States to ensure that the revision of the Eurovignette is suspended, as it threatens European economy and competitiveness in the current economic climate.
Rather, EU Members States should provide real business incentives to transport companies to help them to sustain their investments in innovative and cleaner vehicles, in order not to loose momentum in the industry-led drive towards more sustainable road transport, which has already resulted in the reduction of local pollution from heavy vehicles by up to 97%, and of their CO2 emissions by 36% over the past 10 years.
EU Members States should also provide economic stimulus packages to invest in lacking road infrastructure, in order to remove bottlenecks and unnecessary costs. Finally, it should be recognised, once and for all, that any penalty on road transport is an even greater penalty on the economy as a whole!

Source: Transportweekly