Slovak carriers threaten to block border for Ukrainian trucks from Friday
This was announced by the chairman of the Union of Road Carriers of Slovakia (UNAS) Stanislav Skala, Ukrinform reports citing Reuters.
According to him, UNAS will wait for the reaction of the Ministry of Transport of Slovakia until Thursday before making a final decision.
Skala added that a meeting of European transport ministers will be held in Brussels on December 4, but he did not have high hopes for any breakthrough.
It seems that neither the Ukrainian side nor the (European - ed.) Commission is willing to back down, he said.
A week ago, UNAS blocked truck traffic through the Vyšné Nemecké crossing point, adjacent to Ukraine's Uzhhorod crossing point.
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 European Union 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 express their demands, began a blockade of truck traffic at the Medyka-Shehyni checkpoint near Przemysl.
On his last day in office, Polish Infrastructure Minister Andrzej Adamczyk sent a letter to Deputy Prime Minister for the Restoration of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov with Warsaw's proposals for resolving the border crisis.