Ukraine and Poland agreed on measures to partially unblock the border. The issue of cancellation or changes to the "transport visa-free" was not raised.
Ukraine and Poland agreed on the partial unblocking of the border
A meeting was held in Warsaw between Deputy Minister of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine Serhiy Derkach and State Secretary of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Poland, Rafal Weber, chaired by Jadwiga Emilevych, Government Commissioner for Polish-Ukrainian Development Cooperation, and with the participation of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Poland.
During the meeting, the parties agreed on several measures, including:
Opening of the "Ugryniv —Dolgobychuv" checkpoint for the passage of empty trucks to increase the border's capacity and reduce the load on other checkpoints;
Create separate passes for empty vehicles in the "eCherga" system at the "Yagodyn — Dorogusk" and "Krakivets — Korchova" checkpoints. It is at these checkpoints that there are physical lanes for empty vehicles directly at the checkpoint on both the Ukrainian and Polish sides;
launch of a pilot project with registration in "eCherga" immediately before crossing the border at the "Nižankovychy — Malhovice" checkpoint for one month.
The cancellation or changes to the "transport visa-free" was not discussed. In particular, it was not on the agenda.
Polish protesters insist on the operation of "Ugryniv — Dolgobychiv" and "Nižankovychy — Malhovice" only for transport with EU registration. The position is unacceptable for Ukraine and the EU, as it discriminates against other countries.
The latter was confirmed during the meeting of the Ukraine-Poland-EU Coordination Platform with the participation of the leadership of the European Commission's Directorate for Transport and Mobility (DG MOVE) on November 30, the press service adds.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Reconstruction, in common with DG MOVE, is working on solutions that will allow the situation with queues at the border to be resolved and reduce the tension in the issue of road transport.
The key positions are to improve the capacity of existing checkpoints, in particular the effectiveness of phytosanitary and other types of control, to comply with the memorandums regulating the number of trucks allowed to cross the border. It is also about the development of the Action Plan for the development of Ukrainian-Polish checkpoints, the press service notes.
Blocking checkpoints on the border with Ukraine
Since November 6, Polish truckers started a strike and blocked several checkpoints, including:
"Yagodyn — Dorogusk";
"Krakowets — Korchova";
"Rava-Ruska — Grebene";
"Sheghyni — Medicine".
Carriers put forward demands, including:
restoration of permissive relations with Ukraine;
strengthening of transport regulations;
ban on registering companies in Poland if their finances and accounting are located outside the EU;
obtaining access to the Ukrainian system "The Way";
division of separate queues for EU cars in the "eCherga" system;
allocation of different queues for empty vehicles.
