Slovakian truck drivers will join their Polish colleagues in blocking border crossings with Ukraine to protest unfair competition being advocated by the European Union.
Slovak truckers have decided to block the country’s main border crossing with Ukraine starting Friday, December 1st, reports Slovakian news agency TASR. The blockade will last for an indefinite period of time until steps are taken to limit competition from Ukrainian hauliers, the truckers’ association UNAS said. Every hour, only four trucks entering from Ukraine will be allowed through, but deliveries of military and humanitarian aid, livestock, and frozen goods will be completely exempt from passing through.
As we previously reported, Polish truckers started to block three major border crossings with Ukraine on November 6th, and extended the blockade to a fourth crossing last week, allowing only passenger traffic and transport with humanitarian or military aid to pass through. They intend to uphold the blockade until January 6th if their demands are not met by then.
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last February, the EU and Ukraine struck an agreement to allow Ukrainian trucks to enter the EU without entry permits, acknowledging “the unavailability of traditional transport routes in the region” due to the war “and the urgent need to secure supply chains and food security by using alternative routes via road, in particular for the transport of grain, fuel, foodstuffs, and other goods.” The agreement was signed last June and extended until next June.
Polish and Slovakian truckers complain that Ukrainians offer cheaper prices for their services and also transport goods within the European Union, rather than just between the bloc and Ukraine. The EU agreement does not permit Ukrainian trucks to pick up and drop off loads within the EU’s territory.
“It seems that neither the Ukrainian side nor the (European) Commission are willing to back down,” said UNAS chief Stanislav Skála.
The Commission has not been empathetic to the plight of the Polish and Slovakian truckers. Adina Vălean, the European Commissioner for Transport, even suggested Brussels would launch an infringement procedure against Warsaw. “While I support the right of people to protest, the entire EU, not to mention Ukraine, a country currently at war, cannot be taken hostage by blocking our external borders. It’s as simple as that,” she said on Wednesday.
Neither the Polish nor the Slovakian government has intervened, with the Slovakian transport ministry stating it fully respects the truckers’ rights to protest.
The issue is very similar to the banning of Ukrainian grain imports. In September, the European Union decided not to renew a ban on Ukrainian food heading to nearby EU countries, after which Poland—along with Bulgaria, Hungary, and Slovakia—imposed its own ban to protect domestic farmers from Ukrainian grain flooding local markets.
The new Slovak government, led by Robert Fico, who has been critical of EU sanctions against Russia and of sending weapons to Ukraine, plans to extend and expand the ban on Ukrainian agricultural products, the Kyiv Independent reports. According to a proposal approved on Wednesday, November 29th, the government is set to add honey, barley, wheat flour, soybeans, and cane or beet sugar to the list of banned agricultural products. The ban previously applied to wheat, corn, rapeseed, and sunflower seeds and will remain in place until the end of 2023. The resolution says the ban is necessary due to the “absence of a systemic pan-European solution and the unilateral bans of two neighbouring countries,” referring to Poland and Hungary.
