Hungarian carriers say they will join the strike at the border with Ukraine

On Monday, December 11, Hungarian carriers will go on strike at the border with Ukraine as Poland and Slovakia have done before. Their actions were authorized by the local police.

The demonstration will take place at the Zahony-Chop border crossing. The statement was posted on the website of the Hungarian Road Transport Association (MKFE) on Friday, December 8.

With these actions at the border, Hungarian carriers want to draw the attention of the European Commission and the Hungarian government to the "serious impact" of the EU-Ukraine agreement. They argue that the liberalization of freight transportation it provides for has left many Hungarian businesses "in a critical situation."

The carriers demand to revise the agreement and restore the license quotas for Ukrainian-Hungarian transportation. The association also called for "looking for means that can provide an opportunity at the level of member states to restrain the expansion of Ukrainian carriers."

"On December 18, the European Union and Ukraine will negotiate again. We believe that instead of the current tough rejection, it will be possible to achieve progress in the negotiations, and the finalized agreement between the EU and Ukraine will have a more favorable direction for Hungarian carriers," the statement said.

Volodymyr Balin, vice president of the Association of International Road Carriers of Ukraine, emphasized that the protest of Hungarian carriers will take the form of a strike, not a border blockade as they will stand by the road to express their position. He said this on the air of the national TV marathon.

"We talked to this association on Tuesday, and their position is unclear. They say that the 'permitless system' has distorted the market. However, the agreement between Ukraine and the EU, which they want to cancel so badly, explicitly prohibits us from transporting through the territory of the EU countries," Balin said.

As reported by OBOZ.UA:

- Slovak carriers started blocking the Ukrainian border. Subsequently, the traffic for trucks was unblocked, but then they threatened to paralyze the traffic on the border again.

- Meanwhile, the strike by Polish carriers has been going on for over a month. Thousands of trucks are waiting in lines, and trucks have already begun to be transported by train.

- Polish prime ministerial candidate Donald Tusk promises that if he rejoins the government, he will solve the problem of blocking the border with Ukraine by the Poles. However, he did not name any specific steps to achieve this.

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