Heavy goods vehicle traffic remains very disrupted between Poland and Ukraine. Polish truckers accuse their Ukrainian colleagues of unfair competition. Report by our correspondent Magdalena Chodownik.
The blockade of the borders with Ukraine by Polish truckers never ends. For the past month, the waiting time for heavy goods vehicles has now been measured in hundreds of hours. A movement of discontent in which Polish farmers participate.
This blockade against Ukrainian competition, considered unfair by the Poles, created long queues, causing significant disruptions, made worse by the winter conditions.
One of the main complaints of owners of Polish transport companies is the abolition of licenses for Ukrainian drivers in order to avoid disruptions in transport.
“The fundamental grievance of drivers”, explains Edyta Ozygala, owner of a transport company, _”_concerns the exclusion of EU drivers from a system we call the ‘electronic queue’ which regulates departures from Ukraine and entry into Poland. This time is wasted time, waiting for departure from Ukraine. We have to spend several days there, usually, at the moment we wait about 12 to 14 days, and we wait in the cars.”
The second important issue concerns the European Commission and its restrictions on the number of trucks passing through Ukraine and the EU – these were changed to help Ukraine after the Russian invasion.
“We want the withdrawal of the unfavorable EU-Ukraine contract,” insists Krzysztof Bosak, deputy, of the Confederation Party. “A contract which removed a system of mutual permits which previously regulated (relations between) Ukraine and the EU. With exaltations within the transport sector. The total removal of the permit system, as Brussels did, has completely destabilized the market, and we need a return to normal situation in which entrepreneurs on both sides will benefit from know where they are.”
The conflict on the border with Ukraine has already been going on for a month and in recent days, explains our correspondent Magdalena Chodownik, but the movement is starting to spread. Poles have recently been joined by truck drivers in Slovakia.