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Poland to seek return of EU permits for Ukrainian haulers

30.11.2023 09:30
Poland will next week push for the reinstatement of permits for Ukrainian transport companies entering the European Union, as demanded by Polish haulers, the Polish prime minister has said.
A queue of trucks at Polands Hrebenne checkpoint with Ukraine on Monday, November 27, 2023.
A queue of trucks at Poland's Hrebenne checkpoint with Ukraine on Monday, November 27, 2023.PAP/Wojtek Jargiło

Mateusz Morawiecki made the declaration at a media briefing in parliament on Wednesday, public broadcaster Polish Radio's IAR news agency reported.

The prime minister said Poland would push for the return of the permits "at a meeting of EU transport ministers in Brussels on Monday." 

Morawiecki said the government agreed with the protesting Polish transport companies on "many points," including permits for Ukrainian haulers and the canceling of an electronic queueing system for empty trucks returning from Ukraine to Poland.

Earlier in the day, the government briefed lawmakers on its response to the ongoing protest by Polish haulers and farmers at the Ukraine border.

MPs voted to reject the report, the IAR news agency reported.

Polish transport companies have been blocking the Hrebenne, Dorohusk, Korczowa and Medyka checkpoints with Ukraine, demanding that the EU reinstate permits for Ukrainian transport firms entering the bloc, and that Ukraine abolish an electronic queuing system for empty trucks returning to Poland, according to news outlets.

Meanwhile, Polish farmers are blocking the Medyka crossing, calling for subsidies on wheat and state-backed loans amid an influx of grain from Ukraine, and also want the farm tax rates to be kept unchanged, Poland's PAP news agency reported.   

Polish Infrastructure Minister Alvin Gajadhur told MPs on Wednesday that he had held talks with the protesting haulers, who he said "agreed to cancel the blockade of two checkpoints" and "not to toughen their protest."

He added that, for its part, the government would step up checks of Ukrainian trucks.

Gajadhur also called on EU countries to "analyse the impact on the bloc's transport sector" of the 2022 EU-Ukraine agreement on the liberalisation of the "carriage of freight by road," the PAP news agency reported.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Anna Gembicka said the government would consider a plan to subsidise wheat and allocate a further PLN 2.5 billion (EUR 576 million) for state-backed loans to farmers.

She wrote on the X social media platform that this had been agreed with farmers protesting at the Ukraine border, the PAP news agency reported.

Thursday is day 645 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.

(pm/gs)

Source: IAR, PAP