Poland appeals to Ukraine with proposals to unblock border
On his last day in office, Polish Minister of Infrastructure Andrzej Adamczyk sent a letter to Deputy Prime Minister for the Restoration of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov with Warsaw's proposals for resolving the crisis at the border.
These proposals include letting empty Polish trucks from Ukraine to Poland outside the e-queue and asking the European Commission to analyze the consequences of the implementation of the agreement on the liberalization of transport with Ukraine, Ukrinform reports, citing the Ministry of Infrastructure of Poland.
According to the letter, one of the reasons for the blockade of the border by Polish carriers is the introduction of an e-queue by the Ukrainian side. This has led to an increase in waiting time at the border for EU vehicles returning empty from Ukraine.
This makes it impossible to fulfill further orders and reduces the competitiveness of companies. In addition, according to the protesters, the new system allows for unequal treatment of carriers from Ukraine and Poland, the Polish ministry emphasizes.
In this context, Minister Adamczyk called for urgent measures to fulfill the requirements of Polish road carriers, for which the Ukrainian side is responsible.
This includes the exclusion of mandatory registration in the e-queue for vehicles returning from Ukraine to the EU without cargo at at least two checkpoints: Ustyluh-Zosin and Nyzhankovychi-Malhowice, the letter says.
The Polish minister also asked European Commissioner for Transport Adina-Ioana Vălean to set up a joint committee to analyze the impact of the agreement on liberalization of transport with Ukraine (effective from July 1, 2022) on the EU road transport market.
Minister Adamczyk called on Commissioner Vălean and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to support his appeal to the Ukrainian government on the issue of an e-queue for EU drivers. Poland is also preparing a proposal to make the transport liberalization agreement with Ukraine one of the main topics of negotiations at the December 4 meeting of the EU Transport Council in Brussels.
As Ukrinform reported, Polish carriers began an indefinite protest on November 6. Among the main demands to the Ukrainian government is the return of the practice of permits for Ukrainian carriers, which was canceled by the agreement with the EU until June 30, 2024. The protesters want the agreement to be terminated and the permit regime to be restored from January 1.
The strike led to a complete halt in traffic at three border crossings between Poland and Ukraine: Dorohusk-Yahodyn, Korczowa-Krakivets, and Hrebenne-Rava-Ruska. Queues of Ukrainian trucks have formed at the border for several kilometers, with waiting times of up to ten days.
Negotiations at the state level have not yet yielded any results.
On November 23, Polish farmers joined the protest of local carriers and, to put forward their demands, began a blockade of freight traffic at the Medyka-Shehyni checkpoint near Przemysl.
On Monday, Polish President Andrzej Duda appointed Mateusz Morawiecki as Prime Minister and swore in the new Council of Ministers. Alvin Gajadhur became the new Minister of Infrastructure in this government instead of Adamczyk.