Bob
1st December 2005, 23:04
The UK government failed bikers and biking as they failed to take action against the much feared ‘Third Driving Licence Directive’ - which calls for higher minimum licence ages and additional tests between each licence class amongst other draconian anti-biking measures - during their time holding the EU Presidency, despite extensive lobbying.
UK Minister of Transport, Dr Stephen Ladyman, indicated that the British Government was not willing to consider any amendments to the text of the draft Directive and in fact put the proposal on the agenda for the next meeting of the European Council of Ministers.
Thankfully, MEPs from Britain and other member states have been open to arguments (aided by the MCIA’s online lobbying facility). As a result, several Member States, including France, Germany, Poland and Austria asked for the item to be taken off the agenda, while there is also support from Spain, Italy and possibly Germany, for the motorcycling aspects of the draft Directive to be reconsidered. All of which may result in a failure to reach a “common position” – in turn this would mean a further delay, passing the proposal on to the next EU presidency (Austria) and give time for EU institutions to re-visit the draft and attend to its shortfalls.
Commenting, the BMF’s Senior Government Relations Executive Trevor Magner said “Through its EU Presidency the British Government has done motorcyclists a disservice. The proposals in the draft Directive are diametrically opposed to the Government’s own recently published Motorcycling Strategy and so by accepting them, the Government has failed to live up to its own strategy. These proposals are inept, ill-conceived and will do nothing to improve safety. We want the UK Presidency to have been a success, but not at the expense of motorcycling.”
UK Minister of Transport, Dr Stephen Ladyman, indicated that the British Government was not willing to consider any amendments to the text of the draft Directive and in fact put the proposal on the agenda for the next meeting of the European Council of Ministers.
Thankfully, MEPs from Britain and other member states have been open to arguments (aided by the MCIA’s online lobbying facility). As a result, several Member States, including France, Germany, Poland and Austria asked for the item to be taken off the agenda, while there is also support from Spain, Italy and possibly Germany, for the motorcycling aspects of the draft Directive to be reconsidered. All of which may result in a failure to reach a “common position” – in turn this would mean a further delay, passing the proposal on to the next EU presidency (Austria) and give time for EU institutions to re-visit the draft and attend to its shortfalls.
Commenting, the BMF’s Senior Government Relations Executive Trevor Magner said “Through its EU Presidency the British Government has done motorcyclists a disservice. The proposals in the draft Directive are diametrically opposed to the Government’s own recently published Motorcycling Strategy and so by accepting them, the Government has failed to live up to its own strategy. These proposals are inept, ill-conceived and will do nothing to improve safety. We want the UK Presidency to have been a success, but not at the expense of motorcycling.”