In-depth reporting, data and actionable intelligence for policy professionals – all in one place.
The protests add to Ukraine’s difficulties in exporting its goods to the EU.
Angry truckers are blocking Polish freight crossing points with Belarus and Ukraine — a move that risks worsening already strained ties between Warsaw and Kyiv.
The relationship between the two wartime allies has been battered by Poland halting Ukrainian grain exports to protect its own farmers. Now truckers are hoping to force action on what they say is unfair competition from Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian hauliers.
They started their protest last week by blocking the Yahodyn-Dorohusk checkpoint with Ukraine. On Tuesday, they added the Koroszczyn checkpoint — Poland’s only operational freight crossing with Belarus.
The truckers complain that Ukrainian and Belarusian drivers are offering transport services in Poland at prices they can’t match.
“We cannot tolerate this, because they will flood us with their cheap trucks, cheap drivers and everything,” Jakub Kot, who manages a trucking company in the eastern Polish city of Łuków, said from the Belarusian border.
“They don’t have the same costs we have in the European Union,” Kot said. If nothing is done, he added, “Polish companies will be erased from the map.”
The protesters demand that permitting requirements for Ukrainian truckers — waived under an EU deal aimed at boosting Ukraine’s exports — be reinstated.
The EU deal, recently extended to June 30, 2024, allows shippers to carry cargo between Ukraine and an EU country without additional paperwork, but doesn’t allow Ukrainian truckers to pick up and drop off loads within the EU.
The Polish truckers say that, while their Ukrainian counterparts have access to the EU, they are being hit with fines in Ukraine.
In an attempt to broker a temporary solution, Ukraine’s Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov announced on Sunday that his country would suspend fines for carriers lacking the appropriate permit for carrying cargo between Ukraine and a third EU country.
But he added: “Our position is unequivocal: Such transportation does not fall under the agreement between Ukraine and the EU on cargo transportation and is not bilateral, and accordingly requires permits.”
His statement suggests Kyiv understands the deal to only allow truckers to carry goods from their home country to Ukraine, excluding, for example, a Polish trucker picking up a load in Germany and then taking it to Ukraine.
Polish truckers don’t agree.
Łukasz Białasz, one of the protesters at the Yahodyn-Dorohusk crossing, told Poland’s Radio Lublin that Polish carriers should be able to transport cargo from a third EU country to Ukraine without being fined.
Kubrakov said Ukraine has appealed to the European Commission to clarify the deal. A Polish diplomat said Warsaw is also seeking clarification.
The Commission did not respond to a request for comment.
Despite Ukraine’s offer to suspend fines, Kot said it “won’t change anything.”
While the EU deal doesn’t allow Ukrainian hauliers to operate within EU countries without a permit, there simply aren’t enough checks to make sure that they don’t, he said, concluding: “Permits should be limited.”
On the Belarusian border, protesters want a full block on Belarusian and Russian truckers. The EU already bans carriers from the two countries from operating in the EU, but shipping companies can register businesses in Poland, and “just take the trailers from Belarus and drive in the whole of Europe,” Kot said.
Protesters are only allowing a few trucks an hour to pass — making exceptions for cargo like live animals and humanitarian goods — creating long queues on the border.
“More than 5,000 trucks cannot cross our largest checkpoint,” Ukraine’s Deputy Infrastructure Minister Serhiy Derkach said in a statement Sunday.
The protests are a major problem for Ukraine’s attempts to redirect its exports away from its blocked Black Sea ports — and another hiccup for the EU’s “solidarity lanes” scheme to support that effort.
For now, the protests haven’t sparked much of a reaction from either Warsaw or Brussels.
“Nobody cares about us, especially the European Union. Nobody wants to talk, nobody wants to do anything,” Kot said. But “if they don’t want to speak … now, maybe they will speak if we block another border crossing.”
The protest carries political risk for Poland’s nationalist government, which is preparing for a key parliamentary election this fall. Late last week, Krzysztof Bosak, one of the leaders of the far-right opposition Confederation party, showed up at one of the border blockades, denouncing “government inaction.”
Log in to access content and manage your profile. If you do not have an account you can register here.
Forgot your password?
By logging in, you confirm acceptance of our POLITICO Privacy Policy.