Ensuring basic road freight connectivity after Brexit

Key points:

• The EESC supports the Commission's steps to ensure basic international HVG freight transport connectivity on a temporary basis between the Union and the United Kingdom.
• The EESC welcomes the fact that the proposal for a regulation under examination grants UK road haulage operators the right, until 31 December 2019, to carry out bilateral transport between the points of departure and arrival in respectively the United Kingdom and the European Union under the conditions set out in the proposal and in particular on condition that Union carriers may circulate on the territory of the United Kingdom under equivalent conditions including fair, equal and non-discriminatory conditions of competition.
• In the event of the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement, the EESC calls on the United Kingdom and the European Union to negotiate and, by common agreement, establish - before the end of the transitional period mentioned above - basic connectivity under the ECMT system and the future rules to be applied between the United Kingdom and the European Union.