Polish carriers blocking Ukrainian border sign agreement: Important date revealed
Photo: Agreement reached in Poland to cease protests at the border (Getty Images)
An agreement has been signed in Poland with the truckers who have been blocking the border crossings with Ukraine. According to the agreement, the protesters will end their boycott by March 1, says the Minister of Infrastructure of Poland, Dariusz Klimczak.
"The action will end by March 1. This does not mean the end of the dialogue; on the contrary, we are starting very intensive, constructive negotiations aimed at achieving specific results. Implementing the provisions we agreed upon. They have everything we discussed, everything the representatives of carriers and committees, who today signed the contract with us, asked for. We have a lot of work ahead," he said.
He added that the result of the agreement would be the cessation of protests at the border crossing points in three cities: Korczowa, Hrebenne, and Dorohusk.
7 points
The minister also informed that the agreement with the protesting truckers contains "7 points that cover a lot of issues."
"They relate to the complete exclusion of the road border crossing Malhowice - Nyzhankovychi as part of a pilot project in the electronic queue system. This also concerns monitoring the Ukrainian side's declaration regarding the period of stay for trucks registered outside the territory of Ukraine, and so far, this stay period has been 20 days. We will monitor the statements of the Ukrainian side about extending this period to 60 days," the minister said.
Situation on Ukraine-Poland border
Since November 6, Polish truckers announced the start of a strike, which, according to them, would last until the beginning of January 2024. As a result, they practically blocked three border checkpoints with Ukraine - Yahodyn-Dorohusk, Krakovets-Korchova, Rava-Ruska-Hrebenne, allowing the entry or exit of no more than one truck per hour. Later, on November 23, carriers also blocked the checkpoint Medyka-Shehyni. Additionally, there were intentions to extend the blockade to the control point Nyzhankovychi - Malhowice.
One of the demands of the Polish carriers is access to the Ukrainian Shlyakh system. As explained earlier by the Ukrainian border guards' press service, with this requirement, they want to encourage Ukrainian carriers to work for Polish transport companies engaged in cargo transportation.
On January 16, it became known that Polish long-haul drivers had reached an agreement on "certain conditions" with the government and would suspend their protest on January 17 at 13:00 Kyiv time.
