Polish truckers reach deal with govt, will suspend protest

Polish truckers reach deal with govt, will suspend protest

By Anna Koper

Polish truckers who have blockaded some border crossings with Ukraine since November will suspend their protest until March 1 after signing an agreement with the government, the infrastructure minister said on Tuesday.

Polish drivers had been demanding that the European Union reinstate a system whereby Ukrainian companies need permits to operate in the bloc and the same for European truckers entering Ukraine.

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The truckers also want empty trucks from the EU to be excluded from an electronic queuing system in Ukraine.

"We've signed an agreement. The outcome of the agreement will be the discontinuation of protests at road border crossings in three towns: Korczowa, Hrebenne, Dorohusk," Infrastructure Minister Dariusz Klimczak said.

"The protest will be stopped till March 1," he added, saying that further talks were ongoing.

Tomasz Borkowski of the Committee to Protect Transporters and Transport Employers told Reuters before the signing ceremony that the protest would be suspended from 1100 GMT on Wednesday.

"We agreed certain conditions, we will give the government time to work as it is a new government," he said.

The main points of the agreement include monitoring of solutions worked out jointly by Poland and Ukraine to ease the situation of EU-registered drivers in Ukraine, talks with the EU regarding its agreement with Ukraine and talks with the European Commission on financial support for Polish haulage companies.

The deal provides for more road checks to stop Ukrainian truckers from carrying out services not provided for under the EU-Ukraine agreement.

Edyta Ozygala, one of the leaders of the truckers' protest in Dorohusk, said that the action could be renewed at any time if the agreed conditions are not fully met.

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"If the effects are unsatisfactory, we will come back," she said.

Ukraine says the blockade has caused serious economic losses and has hampered its war effort. It says cross border transportation has increased because of the war and the fact that its main export and imports routes through the Black Sea were blocked.

"The key reason for the growth in the number of transportations by Ukrainian hauliers is the response to the consequences of the Russian armed aggression," Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said in a social media post on Monday. "Transportations of fuel, humanitarian and military cargo take up about 20% of total traffic."

Polish farmers decided to suspend a protest at the border crossing with Ukraine at Medyka after the government agreed to their demands earlier this month.