The National Union of Road Hauliers from Romania – UNTRR- made numerous interventions to Romanian, German and European authorities, and to the relevant national and international institutions:

– requesting clarification on the enforcement of the minimum wage law in Germany to foreign carriers (Romanians);

– calling for urgent action to avoid penalizing abusively the Romanian road transport operators by the German authorities as of 1^st January 2015, due to non-apllication of the German minimum wage law;

– indicating the seriousness of the recent measures taken by Germany, which affect the freedom of services in the European market and warning that the enforcement of such measures pushes Europe on a path of neoprotectionism which ultimately will affect its overall competitiveness over other global competitors.

1. UNTRR official interventions against the enforcement of the German minimum wage law for Romanians:

• Intervention addressed to the EC for Transport, Mrs. Violeta Bulc,
• Intervention addressed to His Excelency Mr. Werner Hans Lauk, German Ambassador to Romania
• Intervention addressed to the President of FIATA- International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations – Mr. Francesco S. Parisi
• General Secretary-IRU, Mr. Umberto de Pretto
• German Cancelar, Mrs. Angela Merkel
• EC Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Mobility, Mrs. Marianne Thyssen
• EC Commissioner for Competition, Mrs.Margrethe Vestager
• Transport Ministers of the EU Member States and of the following non-EU countries: Turkey, Russian Federation, Ukraine, Belarus and Serbia
• EC – Committee on Transport and Tourism – TRAN, Mr. Michael Cramer – Chair
• EC Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship & SMEs, Mrs. Elzbieta Bienkowska
• Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Ms. Andrea Nahles

– Email sent by the General Secretary – UNTRR on 24.12.2014 to all 732 Members of the European Parliament

• We have also received adverse responses from the British Members of the European Parliament

– Email sent by the General Secretary UNTRR on 11.12.2014 to all road transport associations -IRU members and the correspondence with the professional associations from Hungary and Poland

– UNTRR have tried activating non-EU carriers – Turks and Belarus, because they have a greater force as non-EU countries

2. UNTRR interventions to the Romanian authorities and relevant institutions: 

13.03.2015 – to the Romanian President Mr. Klaus Iohannis and to the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Romania Mr. Bogdan Aurescu, requesting clarification on whether MiLoG law was included in talks with German Chancellor Mrs. Angela Merkel 

03.03.2015 – letter for welcoming the signature of joint letter of 11 EU Ministers addressed to both the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs and Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure concerning the impact on the EU transport sector of the Minimum Wage Act adopted by Germany    

30.01.2015 – request for cancellation of German minimum wage for foreign hauliers: 

• President of Romania – Mr. Klaus Iohannis
• Prime – Minister of Romania, Mr. Victor Ponta
• Minister of Transport, Mr.Ioan Rus
• Minister of Labour, Social Protection and Elderly, Mrs. Rovana Plumb
• Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr.Bogdan Aurescu 

19.01.2015 – regarding a moratorium on enforcement of German minimum wage for Romanian hauliers: 

• Prime – Minister of Romania, Mr. Victor Ponta
• Minister of Transport, Mr.Ioan Rus
• Minister of Labour, Social Protection and Elderly, Mrs. Rovana Plumb
• Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr.Bogdan Aurescu

– Interventions against the application of the minimum wage in Germany to:

• Prime – Minister of Romania, Mr. Victor Ponta
• Minister of Transport, Mr.Ioan Rus
• Minister of Labour, Social Protection and Elderly, Mrs. Rovana Plumb
• Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr.Bogdan Aurescu
• President of Competition Council, Mr. Marius Bogdan Chirițoiu

– Email sent by the UNTRR General Secretary on 23.12.2014 to all Romanian Members of the European Parliament

• there were received support and promises of interventions from MEPs Maria Grapini, Renate Weber

– UNTRR email addressed to USER on 12/19/2014

3. UNTRR interventions to the relevant authorities and institutions in Germany, which were asked for clarification on the application of this law to the foreign carriers (Romanian)

– UNTRR requested information from the hauliers association in Germany – BGL, as of 25.11.2014, UNTRR met with representatives of BGL and IRU Brussels on 18.12.14 and was also in contact with BGL through email and phone requesting urgent clarification on the enforcement of the German minimum wage law to the foreign carriers

• all the answers and information received from BGL and IRU Bruxeles have been translated and published on the UNTRR website (www.untrr.ro)

– UNTRR requested information from German passengers hauliers association – BDO- on 30.12.2014

– UNTRR requested clarification from German Customs on 30.12.2014

• responses from German Customs have been translated and published on the UNTRR website

– UNTRR contacted a law firm in Germany asking for clarifications regarding the enforcement of the minimum wage in Germany to the Romanian carriers, as well as assistance in completing the model of a notification form for a Romanian carrier to the German customs 

4. UNTRR dispatched the following press releases: 

• PRESS RELEASE, March 18, 2015: UNTRR organized a protest at the embassies of Germany and France 

• Press release, 30th January 2015: UNTRR welcomes German’s decision to temporarily suspend the new minimum wage law for hauliers that transit the country and considers it a first step towards solving this issue 

• Press release, 29th January 2015: UNTRR asks the Romanian Government to call the German Government to introduce a moratorium on enforcement of German minimum wage

• Press release, 14th January 2015: Germany sets a dangerous precedent for the EU, by imposing the national rules to the other 27 EU Member States, without the European Commission or the European Parliament! 

• Press release: 16th December 2014: Quo vadis, the European Union?Germany imposes a minimum wage to the carriers of other Member States, joining the Western States which have adopted measures against freedom of services in the EU. Penalty for non-compliance with the minimum wage per hour in Germany can reach EUR 500.000!

The press release of 16th December 2014 was translated into English and German and was dispatched to the German media: Die Zeit, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Die Welt, Frankfurter Rundschau, Münchner Merkur, Der Tagesspiegel, Handelsblatt, die tageszeitung, Neues Deutschland, Junge Freiheit, Junge Welt, Jungle World, Berliner Tageszeitung, DPA – Deutsche Presse-Agentur, RTL television, ZDF, ProSiben, Spiegel International, Dpa-AFX. 

Also, the press releases of 18^th March 2015 and of 14^th January 2015 were translated into English.

5- UNTRR sent a complaint form to the European Commission on minimum wage law in Germany

6- UNTRR organized, on March 18, a protest at the embassies of Germany and France concerning the introduction of the minimum wage for Romanian companies engaged in international transport operations to / from, or transiting the territory of the two countries.

All UNTRR interventions and responses received by our association on the enforcement of  minimum wage law German to the foreign carriers (Romanians) are published on the UNTRR website – www.untrr.ro  – on the first page and on Interventions and Press Releases sections.