A supposedly routine piece of EU legislation to harmonise driving licences around the bloc is a covert attempt to kickstart a new European “road police,” according to several MEPs.
It has been claimed that Brussels is hijacking member states’ power to regulate road safety in order to advance the green agenda.
The French Rassemblement National’s Philippe Oliver told The European Conservative that the plans will constitute the cornerstone of a European ‘road police’ while necessitating further regulation from Brussels:
“Under the pretext of ‘road safety,’ the Commission’s aim is to bring about the emergence of a European road police,” Oliver declared, adding that, once established, the new EU regulations could come to eventually impinge on freedom of travel.
In a move some claim openly discriminates against elderly drivers and farmers, MEPs will shortly debate a proposal by the European Commission to apply EU-wide standards—including mandatory health checks—on motor vehicle operators.
The proposed regulations will stipulate that all new car licences must be renewed every 15 years—five years for tractors—while ensuring that disqualified drivers can be prevented from driving in all 27 EU member states for road offences.
Oliver also took a swipe at Green MEP Karima Delli who helped frame the legislation saying that the regulations could be used to advance Brussels’ anti-car agenda and force drivers off the road through additional costs.
The EU has taken aim at road users since 2020 with controversial EU legislation to ban new combustion engines by 2035, resulting in a major backlash from both populists and automotive groups.
The new proposals on licences were narrowly passed by the EU Parliament’s Transport Committee last December by a single vote with even European People’s Party (EPP) MEPs complaining about additional financial and bureaucratic burdens placed on drivers at a time of crippling inflation.
According to Euractiv, MEP Elżbieta Łukacijewska, the EPP group’s chief negotiator on the file, said the group “will continue our fight to preserve mobility and independence of citizens without subjecting them to unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles”.
The influx of Ukrainian refugees into the EU since 2022 has increased the administrative burden facing European governments issuing and recognising driving licences. It was also cited by Eurofederalists as the primary reason for harmonising standards.
The EU already has preexisting competencies governing the issue of drivers licences— including mutual recognition across member states and minimum standards established in the 2000s—but defenders of the new legislation say that it is essential to ensuring crossborder travel and expanding the EU’s commitment to free movement. While ostensibly sincere and technical, this measure has angered many right-wing MEPs.
