The ministry drives transporters to despair: it wants to stop contesting part of the mobility package, limit the reduction of the daily allowance

The issue of the Lithuanian transport sector was placed on the agenda of the extraordinary meeting of the Tripartite Council on Tuesday. V. Šilinskas described that this sector in Lithuania enjoys a “tax haven”.

“There is a French study, whose conclusions are that a large part of wages in Lithuania is tax-free. The same has been done in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, the Eastern Bloc countries, many of which have wage incentives. tax, which has made their sector more competitive than in Western Europe.

In Lithuania, it is through daily allowances, we have a coefficient on how much an employee should be paid to pay the maximum amount of daily allowance, elsewhere there are slightly different rules, ”he said.

Relevant solutions

V. Šilinskas presented several recent solutions that are relevant to the transport sector.

“First, it’s just a transfer payment. Members of the Seimas have already adopted this amendment to the Labor Code. “Representatives of Linava are asking the president to veto her, this is not a law that has yet entered,” he said.

The deputy minister said that it is expected to maintain the same coefficient of the taxable part of the daily allowance: 1.65 of the monthly minimum wage. The decision must be reworked after the Constitutional Court’s reproaches that last year it was made without observing the principles of the legislation.

“It just came to our notice then. The previous government has appealed to the Court of Justice of the European Communities to challenge the Mobility Package. We have sent a proposal to the Ministry of Justice to waive two of the five claims. Workers and drivers must have the right to spend the night out of the taxi and they should have the right to return home. The government is still discussing this issue, there is still no final solution, “said V. Šilinskas.

In addition, he reported that the ministry believes in the right to a 50 percent reduction. daily allowance rates should be limited.

“We’re going to suggest that these should just be some kind of objective rule. Suffice it to say that we just agreed that 50 percent. We cut everything down. It should set fair rules about when and how to cut it down,” he said.

V. Šilinskas also said that discussions are taking place about faster preparation of foreigners (the so-called code 95) and increasing quotas.

Mobility package

V. Šilinskas pointed out at the meeting that Lithuania still wants to litigate the provisions of the Mobility Package, which oblige the return of the tug to the state of establishment, restrictions on transport abroad (cabotage) and the payment of drivers’ travel ( bilateral and tripartite transport).

“In my personal opinion, the first requirement is unfair and is due to the fact that we (Eastern Europeans) had tax benefits. It can be said that we compete unfairly with Western Europe, and they came up with the Mobility Package and imposed an unfair demand on the other side. Because the fiscal environment is a matter for the member states, but the European Union can regulate in other ways, “said the deputy minister.

However, there is no longer the desire to challenge others outside the tractor cab. “Conditions are improving and there is already a court ruling indicating that drivers have the right to spend the night outside the cabin,” he said.

It is also desired not to dispute the driver’s return home every four weeks. “It just came to our attention then. Naturally, drivers have the right to go home and hug their families,” said V. Šilinskas.

Quota increase

V. Šilinskas reported that currently about 77 thousand people work in Lithuania. drivers who drive 57 thousand. cars.

“On May 20, the entire transportation fee was used (11.6 thousand). This does not mean that aliens can no longer be brought in, only a fee is the simplest procedure.

Now the transport asks for another 15.3 thousand. The employment service says it could train about 500 workers before the end of the year, “he said.

The vice minister said that two possible solutions are being considered: not increasing the quota or increasing it by 15.1 thousand. people.

Opinions differ

Andrius Burba, Secretary of Innovation and Transport Policy of Linava, spoke at the meeting of the Tripartite Council.

“It seems to me that we are, I don’t know, in different worlds. We, as carriers, already feel a certain amount of terrorism that has started from state institutions. Now we are talking to equals who … For businesses, the whole world is working with equals to help them prosper, to pay taxes. Our state has been doing everything it can for half a year to make our business fail.

I really don’t understand what kind of workers you are going to protect, unions, when they just don’t exist, when companies are moving en masse, as you will see now, en masse to other states. When we talk to our colleagues, we say “ok, we want to hire all Lithuanian drivers”, we have signed a memorandum with the Employment Service: there are 200 of them in two months and we have registered more than 10 thousand. jobs – there are none.

Comrades, our machines are parked, we cannot work and pay taxes. What are we discussing with you now? I really don’t get it. It seems to me that those 700 million. Lithuania doesn’t need it, “he said.

For her part, Inga Ruginienė, president of the Lithuanian Trade Union Confederation, said they trusted the government.

“We really welcome such a bold move. If someone has made a mistake in the past, it really is too late to correct it,” he commented on the Mobility Package proposal.

“It is not necessary to listen to the statements of various lobbyists, who only ask to reduce guarantees for employees,” added I. Ruginienė.

Speaking of quotas, he said that you cannot talk about increasing them.

“The introduction of quotas does not mean that workers from third countries cannot join. It is only a matter of four weeks (or even less),” he said.