At the Transport Council held in Luxembourg-Kirchberg yesterday, Luxembourg’s minister of sustainable development and infrastructure, François Bausch, deplored the “pitiful social conditions” of road transport workers subjected to frequent frauds and so-called social dumping in their employment contracts. 

The minister, together with representatives from France, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Denmark and Norway — members of an informal “road alliance” —  also considered a series of legislative proposals from the Commission, grouped together in a “mobility package”. 

In this context, Minister Bausch invited his counterparts from the countries of this alliance and his Dutch colleague, Melanie Schultz van Haegen, on Wednesday to a consultation meeting. He was able to welcome the new French minister in charge of transport, Elisabeth Borne, for whom it was the first appearance on the European public prosecutor's office since his recent appointment. François Bausch agreed on this occasion with the minister to organise a bilateral meeting in the coming weeks, to discuss cross-border traffic between Luxembourg and France.

The minister also announced his intention to support the Commission's ambitions to modernise road pricing in Europe in order to make it fairer and more efficient.

Ministers adopted conclusions on road safety in which they pledged to halve the number of seriously injured people by 2030 compared to the baseline of 2020. The protection of vulnerable road users, especially cyclists, is one of the aspects of action that has been retained thanks to the persistence of Luxembourg.

The minister took advantage of this ministerial meeting to inform his colleagues about the finalisation of the project of a European strategy for cycling. This document will be handed over to Commissioner Bulc next week at the Velo-City International Conference in the Netherlands. This is an immediate result of an initiative taken by Minister Bausch during the presidency of the Luxembourg Council in 2015. The aim is to better integrate cycling as a mode of transport in European policies.

Luxembourg had also put an item on the Council's agenda on railway safety. François Bausch called on his counterparts and the Commission to accelerate the deployment of railway safety systems on the European network. In order to ensure the safety of railways, especially cross-border sections, a harmonised system is essential. Luxembourg was a pioneer in the establishment of the European security system ETCS and regrets that the deployment in the rest of the European Union is continuously delayed. Commissioner Violeta Bulc responded by outlining the measures, among others, a specific action plan that she intends to take to remedy them.