Page 13 - Sample PRO weekly report Poland

Rail Baltica benefits for Baltic states estimated at €16bn
The Rail Baltica project linking Finland with Western Europe via Estonia, Latvia, and Estonia will bring the Baltic trio total benefits estimated at €16bn, a report by EY claimed on April 24.
The Rail Baltica project seeks to re-establish a direct connection between the Baltic states and the European railway network, to bring one aspect of the region’s isolation from the rest of the EU to an end. The prime ministers of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania signed an agreement detailing regional cooperation on the construction of Rail Baltica in January. However, the trio continues to struggle to work together, as is the norm.
The project is expected to facilitate regional integration by allowing direct rail travel from Helsinki through Tallinn, Riga, Kaunas, to Warsaw and Berlin, with a potential extension to Venice. The EU is financing nearly €5bn of the €5.8bn total project cost.
The indirect cost of operating the link is expected to amount to just over €4bn, as Rail Baltica will cause fuel excise duties to fall, for example. However, the overall socio-economic benefits will far outweigh the cost, according to the EY estimate, reports Latvian public news website LSM.
During the construction phase, the rail link will create an equivalent of 13,000 full-time construction jobs, while 24,000 more will be created in related industries, the report claims. The consulting company also forecasts that passengers will make up to 7mn trips annually using Rail Baltica. Freight carriage, meanwhile, should come in at 13mn-20mn tonnes per year.
Visegrad haulier associations approved a joint declaration on April 21 calling for the EU to review its guidelines on the freight forwarding market.
Transport operators in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia have long sought European Commission support for their opposition to efforts to force them to pay drivers the minimum wage of whichever country they work in. New regulations in France and Germany now require such payment. The V4 hauliers associations complain the move will increase payroll costs and hurt competitiveness.
Gyorgy Waberer, head of the Hungarian Hauliers Association (MKFE) and government commissioner for freight transport, claims the V4 position may be supported by lorry drivers from as many as 12 states. Unsurprisingly, he mentions associations from the Baltics and Balkans, as well as Spain and Portugal.
The declaration urges the commission to consider the argument of the V4 when deliberating a new set of regulations on the freight forwarding market in May. The region's haulier associations represent some 10,000 companies and 172,000 vehicles. That constitutes 29% of the EU's freight forwarding market. The hauliers are seeking consultation, and not blocking EU trade and service industries, Waberer underlined.
Visegrad hauliers ask EU to review new minimum wage requirements
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