Polish truck drivers have spent nearly a month blockading different crossing points along the border with Ukraine. Last Friday, Slovak drivers joined the protest, turning the dispute into an all-out European crisis.

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    The harsh conditions in the area, including sub-zero temperatures, scarce food supplies and a lack of sanitary services, have raised serious security concerns, with reports of two Ukrainian drivers having died of natural causes while lingering inside their vehicles.

    The measure was introduced in June last year to boost the so-called “solidarity lanes,” which are meant to help Ukraine sustain its national economy and trading relations in the face of the Russian aggression.

    Because Ukrainian carriers offer lower prices for their services and are not bound by EU standards, Polish truckers, who have for years enjoyed a leading position in Europe’s road transport sector, feel the situation amounts to unfair competition and demand the immediate re-imposition of the obligation to carry permits.

    They also want empty trucks returning from Ukraine to be excluded from eCherha, an electronic queuing system set up by Kyiv, which protesters say creates excessive waiting times and exposes companies to economic losses.

    Figures released by Poland’s Ministry of Infrastructure serve to underscore the dissatisfaction of protesters: in 2021, the year before Russia launched the war, Polish truckers had a 38% market share against 62% of their Ukrainian competitors.

    Over the weekend, Poland and Ukraine struck a targeted deal to enable the movement of empty trucks by opening the Dołhobyczów-Uhryniv checkpoint and creating separate slots at the Dorohusk-Yahodyn and Korczowa-Krakovets crossings.


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