Transport ministers from EU countries are slated to agree on a joint declaration on driverless vehicles tomorrow (14 April), but squabbles between member states have made the deal a sensitive subject.

The Dutch Council presidency drafted the declaration to try to boost EU member states’ development of driverless car technology. But there are still doubts about whether EU countries want to continue meeting in a new working group and pledge to introduce driverless cars by 2019.

EU Digital Commissioner Günther Oettinger has said he wants driverless cars to be available by 2020.

EU officials pointed out that one issue dogging the draft declaration is that a handful of member states are competing to be the first European country where driverless cars run on open roads.

The Dutch presidency wants member states to come up with a common strategy for driverless cars. But with Slovakia, followed by Malta, next in line to pick up the six-month, rotating Council presidency slots this summer, some of the officials who crafted the declaration are concerned those countries will drop driverless cars off their list of priorities, according to several sources involved in discussions over the pledge.

The declaration will set up a new working group made up of ministers from EU countries and will be chaired by one member state—determined on a rotating basis.

Some countries, like the UK and Germany, have adjusted national laws to allow testing of driverless cars and adopted strategies to make the new technology commercially available within the next few years.

A recent draft of the EU declaration, obtained by euractiv.com, says that “not every Member State will be able or willing to be actively involved from the start”.

Several sources told EURACTIV that some member states will not support the declaration when transport ministers meet tomorrow in Amsterdam.

A Dutch official who spoke on condition of anonymity said not all 28 EU countries are expected to lend their support to the agreement. But the Dutch transport ministry is convinced the declaration is a needed push for driverless cars to eventually move across EU borders.

EU accelerates to catch up on connected cars The European Commission, which plans a strategy on connected vehicles later this year, has released a report outlining how to “catch up” on connected vehicles as other countries?like the US and Japan?speed ahead.

The declaration also outlines the “important priority to amend the Vienna Convention in order to allow the use of automated vehicles on public roads”.

Most EU countries have signed on to an international convention regulating road safety. A 2014 amendment made way for cars that run without a driver’s full control, as long as a human can still shut off the vehicle.

But the convention still restricts driverless cars from operating on open roads.

The UK is not part of the convention.

Tests of driverless cars already run on public roads in parts of the United States, which is also not covered by the convention.

The declaration could put EU countries on par with the more relaxed traffic regulations in the US, where Google and Tesla have been testing their driverless cars. National rules that might hamper the move towards driverless cars should be repealed or updated, according to the document.

“Any obstacles in national rules need to be tackled regarding the testing and deployment of connected and automated, e.g., on traffic laws, liability and privacy aspects,” the declaration reads.

But European Commission officials who are trying to ease up regulations for driverless cars think the new declaration might be a lot of hot air.

The EU executive set up its own working group on driverless cars in January and has been chairing talks with member states, public authorities and car manufacturers.

“Do we need something in addition to that? In my view we don’t,” said one official who requested anonymity because of the topic’s sensitivity.

A spokesperson for the car industry association ACEA declined to comment on the declaration because it is not yet public.

Car manufacturers and the European Commission have insisted that driverless cars will be safer and consume less fuel than vehicles currently on roads.

But environmental NGO Transport & Environment warned that companies shouldn’t use driverless cars to dodge stricter rules for other vehicles.

“Car and truckmakers are unrestrained in their enthusiasm for autonomous vehicles but much less supportive of fuel-efficiency standards for their cars and trucks which have much greater potential for CO2 savings,” a spokesperson for the campaign group said.

Commission gears up for driverless cars in push to compete with tech giants A new European Commission-led expert group on autonomous vehicles is meeting today (26 January) for the first time, marking the executive’s latest push to develop driverless cars in the EU.