Polish Government Finally Responds to Carriers Blocking Border with Ukraine
The Ministry of Infrastructure of Poland has announced that it has addressed Ukraine with a proposal to unblock the border by Polish carriers. This is reported in a statement by the ministry.
Polish Minister of Infrastructure Andrzej Adamczyk asked Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov to cancel the mandatory registration in the eCherha system for vehicles returning from Ukraine to the EU and unloaded at the Zosin-Ustyluh and Nyzhankovychi-Malhowice border crossings.
"This has led to a significant increase in waiting time for EU-registered vehicles returning from Ukraine without cargo to cross the Ukrainian-European border," Adamczyk explained.
He added that, according to the protesters, this system "allows for unequal treatment of Ukrainian and Polish carriers".
The head of the Polish Ministry of Infrastructure also asked EU Commissioner for Transport Adina Valean to set up a joint committee to analyse the impact of the agreement on liberalisation of transport with Ukraine (transport visa-free regime) on the EU road transport market.
Since 6 November, Polish carriers have been protesting at three border crossings with Ukraine, allowing several cars to pass through at an hour. Last week, the blockade of another border crossing point, Medyka-Szegynia, began.
The protesters demand, among other things, the introduction of commercial permits for Ukrainian companies to transport goods, with the exception of humanitarian aid and supplies for the Ukrainian army; suspension of licences for companies established after the start of the war in Ukraine and their inspection.
On November 23, the Federation of Employers of Ukraine called on President Zelenskyy to meet with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda and begin to address the problem of Polish carriers blocking checkpoints on the border between the two countries.
Queues of tens of thousands of cars, the death of two Ukrainian drivers in it, and estimated direct losses to the Ukrainian economy of €400 million - this is what a prolonged blockade looks like.
As The Gaze previously reported, Latvia has expressed its readiness to help resolve the issue. During a telephone conversation, Latvian Foreign Minister Krisjanis Karinš called on his Polish counterpart, Shimon Shinkovskiy vel Senk, to find a way out of the situation that arose from the protest of Polish carriers.