By KYIV. Oct 31 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The overwhelming majority of the demands of Polish haulers, because of which they plan to block a number of border crossing points on the Ukrainian-Polish border, are impossible to fulfill, Deputy Minister for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development Serhiy Derkach told Interfax-Ukraine.
“The requirement to return to the system of issuing permits for Ukrainian carriers to operate in the European Union is unrealistic. Currently, there is an agreement between Ukraine and the EU, according to which Ukrainian carriers travel without permits in EU countries. The agreement on the liberalization of freight transport, according to which this happens, is valid until the end of June 2024. And here it is important to understand that the agreement works in both directions: our carriers travel without permits, European carriers travel to Ukraine under the same conditions. That is, it is simply impossible to cancel the agreement at the level of the Polish government,” Derkach said.
This is not the first time that Polish carriers have voiced such demands, he said. Most likely, they want to lay the groundwork for next year and influence negotiations on the extension of the agreement, the deputy minister believes.
According to Derkach, Polish carriers are the largest players in the freight transport industry in Europe. Of the total volume of vehicles that transport freight in Europe, Poland accounts for more than half. At the same time, Ukrainian carriers are engaged in transportation mainly from Ukraine and to Ukraine, and not between European countries.
“They can in no way influence freight tariffs by collapsing them, as some are trying to claim,” the deputy minister said.
Strange, according to him, is the requirement to tighten the rules of transportation under the ECMT (a special multilateral permit that makes it possible to carry out transportation throughout the year, being participants in the ECMT quota system).
The rules in accordance with which transportation is carried out apply to absolutely all carriers of the ECMT member countries. They were approved a long time ago; those carriers who have Euro-5 and Euro-6 vehicles have access to obtaining permits. And if we talk about the rules for distributing these permits, then in Ukraine this goes through a competition in which strict requirements are put forward to carriers.
The introduction of a separate queue for vehicles with European license plates, according to Derkach, will be dishonest not only in relation to Ukrainian, but also to carriers from other countries.
“At the border, we do not have a separate queue for Ukrainian drivers – everyone who has registered travels. Carriers from Türkiye and other countries also drive through the territory of Ukraine. If you introduce a separate queue, they will wait until vehicles with EU license plates pass. There is also no separate there are queues for Ukrainian trucks in no EU country,” the deputy minister said.
As for separate queues for empty trucks, today on the border with Poland they are allowed through two border crossing points: Ustyluh-Zosin and Nyzhankovychi-Malchowice.
“Opening additional border crossing points for the passage of only empty vehicles is unrealistic, because Ukraine is interested in having as many points as possible open for loaded vehicles, which would help increase export volumes and strengthen our economy,” Derkach said.
To allow empty vehicles through, he said, the Uhryniv-Dołhobyczów border crossing point could be opened, which was proposed to the Polish side.
In addition, Polish carriers do not need to register in the Shlyakh system.
