MOSCOW, Oct 30 Polish carriers may go on strike in November and close all checkpoints on the Ukrainian border due to growing competition in international transport between Ukraine and the EU, reports the Ukrainian Automobile Manufacturers Association Ukravtoprom.
““On November 3, Polish carriers plan to start a strike on the Ukrainian border. If previously they were limited to one checkpoint, now they plan to block all existing entries from Ukraine. The action is planned for two months,” says a message published on Telegram- association channel.
It is noted that the first meeting of participants has already been agreed upon with local authorities near the Korchova checkpoint, it is scheduled for November 3. It is alleged that the main reason lies in “excessive competition after the liberalization of international transport between Ukraine and the countries of the European Union.”
As stated in the association, Polish carriers demand that the rules of transportation under the ECMT (European Conference of Ministers of Transport) be tightened for foreign carriers, that permits be returned to Ukrainian carriers, and that the registration of companies in Poland be prohibited if its finances are not located in the EU. Among other things, Polish carriers, as reported by the association, will demand the creation of a separate queue at all borders for empty trucks.
Polish road freight carriers held mass protests against the supply of Ukrainian agricultural products on May 4 this year, blocking the road on the border with Ukraine in Doroguska, Lublin Voivodeship. As a result of the action, a queue of several hundred trucks formed. The next day, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine sent a note to its Polish colleagues in connection with the protest of Polish cargo carriers who blocked the movement of trucks. The Yagodin-Dorogusk checkpoint was unblocked and operational on May 15. Later in June, Polish farmers blocked traffic through the Shegini checkpoint.
The European Commission reported that it had taken measures to import certain grain crops from Ukraine. Until the end of the year, wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds of Ukrainian origin can continue to be released for free circulation in all EU member states except Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania. In parallel, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia pledged to cancel their unilateral measures against wheat, corn, rapeseed, sunflower seeds and any other products coming from Ukraine. In September, the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Nikolai Solsky said that Kyiv had developed a procedure for verifying the export of corn, rapeseed, sunflower and wheat to these five border countries of the European Union without their approval.