Polish carriers threatened to intensify protests at the border with Ukraine

Polish hauliers, who have been blocking the border with Ukraine, plan to escalate protests if the government doesn’t address the issue with Ukrainian cargo.

This information reported according to Tomasz Borkowski, a representative of the Committee for the Defense of Carriers and Employers, speaking on the radio station RMF FM.

“We’re not planning to end the blockade yet. We are giving our government time until Thursday, and then we will intensify the protest,” he stated.

Borkowski didn’t specify what this intensification would involve.

He emphasized that the main demand of the protesters is the restoration of permits for commercial transport. He mentioned that in just the last year, 12,000 transport companies were established in Ukraine, leading to unfair competition.

Previously, the European Commission rejected Poland’s demand to reinstate the permit system for Ukrainian truckers, which was in place until February 2022. European Commissioner for Transport Adina Valean called this idea “unacceptable.” She mentioned that the Commission is working on resolving the border crisis but the responsibility lies primarily with the bordering countries. Valean also noted that some of these states are “evading responsibility.”

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki stated that Warsaw would “sharply and unequivocally” pursue a return to the previous system.

A month ago, Polish long-haul drivers blocked border checkpoints with Ukraine. They demanded the reinstatement of permit systems for Ukrainian commercial carriers with exceptions for humanitarian aid and military cargos. They also called for the suspension of licenses for companies established in Ukraine after February 2022, their verification and the separation of queues for empty and loaded vehicles. The truck queue on the Polish side has reached 50 kilometers and two Ukrainian drivers have already died in it.

Polish-Ukrainian relations have significantly strained due to an embargo on Ukrainian grain. Deputy Minister of Economy and Trade of Ukraine Taras Kachka stated that Kyiv would impose an embargo on some Polish agricultural products in response to the unilateral ban on Ukrainian grain imports.

In response, Morawiecki pledged to expand the list of Polish products banned from entering Ukraine.

On September 15, the European Commission decided not to extend restrictions on the import of four types of agricultural products from Ukraine to several bordering EU countries but required Kyiv to implement export control measures. Subsequently, the authorities of Slovakia, Hungary and Poland declared their unilateral extension of the ban. Ukraine lodged a complaint with the WTO. In response, the three EU countries declared they would boycott meetings of the coordination platform on Ukrainian grain.