IRU welcomes today’s AccelerateEU package as an important first response to the energy crisis affecting operators across the EU, particularly its explicit recognition of diesel supply and road transport as part of the response architecture.
While questions of targeted financial support are expected to be addressed separately through the forthcoming Commission State aid framework, today’s package contains several important elements on the immediate operational response to the crisis.
Among the most relevant measures for road transport is the proposed Monitoring Board for diesel and kerosene, aimed at improving shared situational awareness on fuel availability, market tensions and possible supply constraints across Member States.
Together with the Commission’s readiness to coordinate, where necessary, the use of strategic oil stocks, this is a meaningful step towards the kind of preparedness IRU has called for from an early stage of the crisis.
IRU EU Director Raluca Marian said, “The creation of a monitoring mechanism for diesel supply is a valuable step, because visibility is essential in a crisis.
“Monitoring also matters because of what is at stake: heavy-duty vehicles consume around 6.8 billion litres of diesel per month across the EU, and any serious supply disruption would have immediate consequences for logistics chains, essential goods deliveries and people’s mobility.
“The next question is how coordination translates into action if stress in the system intensifies.”
IRU also welcomes some of the recommended measures to Member States included in the toolbox. In particular, the encouragement to facilitate fuel indexation clauses in transport contracts, an important practical measure as operators face sharp cost increases while pass-through mechanisms remain uneven across the EU.
For passenger transport, IRU further welcomes the encouragement to support the continuity of public transport services, which recognises the sector’s public service role. At the same time, such encouragement depends largely on national and local implementation and does not in itself resolve the underlying financial pressures facing many operators.
The package’s support for alternatives and electrification, including measures relevant to charging infrastructure, is necessary in the context of longer-term resilience but does not change the immediate focus on coping with the ongoing energy crisis.
“Support for electrification and alternatives is paramount. But today’s discussion is first and foremost about the immediate crisis response for operators facing acute fuel risks – and here important contingency questions remain open,” said Raluca Marian. “We are encouraged to see the Commission stepping more actively into a coordinating role, because supply risks have cross-border consequences and EU coordination is indispensable.”
“The task now is to ensure that monitoring and coordination are linked to credible contingency responses should conditions worsen, while the financial dimension should be addressed at EU level through the State aid framework, which we keenly expect by the end of this month,” she added.
Tags: IRU EU Raluca Marian
