Ukraine and Poland agree on steps to unblock the border

The Ministry of Reconstruction of Ukraine and the Ministry of Infrastructure of Poland are jointly developing measures to unblock the border, where the strike of Polish carriers continues.

It is noted that a meeting was held in Warsaw between Deputy Minister of Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine Serhiy Derkach and State Secretary of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Poland Rafael Weber, chaired by Jadwiga Yemilevich, Government Commissioner for Polish-Ukrainian Development Cooperation, with the participation of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Poland.

It is reported that the parties agreed to:

• Opening the Uhryniv-Dolhobychuv checkpoint for empty trucks to increase border capacity and reduce the burden on other checkpoints.
• Creating a queue of separate passes for empty vehicles at the Yahodyn-Dorohusk and Krakivets-Korchova checkpoints. These are the checkpoints that have physical lanes for empty vehicles directly at the checkpoint on both the Ukrainian and Polish sides.
• Launch of a pilot project with registration in eCheck immediately before crossing the border at the Nyzhankovychi – Malhowice checkpoint for a period of one month.

According to the Ministry of Reconstruction, the issue of abolishing or amending the “transport visa-free regime”, which Polish carriers insist on, was not discussed and was not on the agenda.

At the same time, Polish protesters insist that the Uhryniv-Dolhobychuv and NyzhankovychiMalhowice routes should be open only to vehicles with EU registration.

“This position is unacceptable for Ukraine and the European Union, as it is a discriminatory rule in relation to other countries. The latter was confirmed during a meeting of the Ukraine-Poland-EU Coordination Platform with the participation of the leadership of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Transport and Mobility (DG MOVE) on November 30,” the Ukrainian agency said.

At the same time, the Ministry of Recovery, together with DG MOVE, is developing strategic solutions that will resolve the situation with queues at the border and reduce tensions in road transportation.

“The key positions are to improve the capacity of existing checkpoints, including the effectiveness of phytosanitary and other types of control, to comply with the memorandums regulating the number of trucks allowed across the border. It is also about developing an Action Plan for the development of Ukrainian-Polish checkpoints (the development strategy is already ready on the Ukrainian side),” the Ministry of Reconstruction emphasized.

Tags: Poland, protests, Ukraine