EU demands ‘half-time interval’ must exceed 25 hours for truckers, Denmark refuses
At least the EU has only shown the Danes the yellow card — it can’t afford to see more players leave the ‘level playing field’
Last night’s Euros semi-final between Italy and Spain was decided in a penalty shoot-out. This evening, England’s Danish opponents in the second semi-final are already facing a penalty shoot-out of their own after committing what the EU Commission deems to be foul play.
For several years Denmark has had a rule limiting the period for which lorries can park in state-owned rest areas to a maximum of 25 hours.
Not unreasonably, the Danes maintain they need this rule to keep their motorway rest areas available to truckers who need them and to ensure they are used for the purposes for which they are provided.
To drive from Denmark’s capital city of Copenhagen in the east to the northern-most city of Skagen takes only five-and-a-half hours. It is therefore hard to see why the EU is insisting the Danes should allow trucks to stay indefinitely in their motorway service areas.
The referee won’t listen
This does not satisfy the EU’s referee, the EU Commission. Last month it blew the whistle on this practice by Denmark and is taking the Danes to the Court of Justice of the European Union where the Danish team will face penalties.
For readers who are interested in such things, the EU has cited two regulations from its enormous and ever-growing rulebook which it alleges Denmark has infringed: Regulation (EC) No 1072/2009 and Regulation (EU) 561/2006.
The EU’s team formation is all wrong
While countries across the EU have been battling the Covid health crisis, readers will be relieved to know that the autocratic referees in the EU Commission have not let this divert them from the important task of imposing their totalitarian will on vital matters of concern, such as the time lorries can stay in lorry parks in Denmark.
Denmark will face a penalty shoot-out in the EU’s court and it seems highly likely that the EU side will win. In that event, the Danish team will be chastised, ultimately given financial penalties if doesn’t comply with the judgment, and will be told not to do it again.
They think it’s all over…
Last year the EU Commission continued to take the United Kingdom to its court, despite the fact that the UK had ostensibly left in January of that year. Even now, after the ‘Transition Period’ has ended and the UK is supposedly out from under the EU yoke, the Commission has continued to bring fresh legal proceedings against the UK.
The Brexit battle may have been won to some extent, but the war isn’t over. It is perfectly obvious that the EU will continue to do everything possible to punish the people of the United Kingdom for daring to leave its evil empire.
The only way to deal with a bully is to stand up to him or her. I continue to urge the Government to do just that. It is the EU that has consistently been guilty of foul play. It’s time to show the Commission the red card.
[ Sources: EU Commission ]
