Ukraine and Poland Agree on Conditions for Unblocking Border for Truck Traffic

The Ministry for Restoration of Ukraine and the Ministry of Infrastructure of Poland have agreed on a list of conditions necessary for unblocking the border.

Serhii Derkach, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Infrastructure; Rafał Weber, State Secretary of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Poland; and Jadwiga Emilewicz, Government Commissioner for Polish-Ukrainian Development Cooperation; and representatives of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Poland took part in the negotiations.

The measures agreed upon by the parties include:

• Opening of the Uhryniv – Dolhobychuv checkpoint for empty trucks to increase the border capacity and reduce the load on other checkpoints.
• Creation of separate lanes for empty vehicles in YeCherha (E-Queue), the online service for booking a place to cross the border by truck at the Yahodyn – Dorohusk and Korczowa – Krakowiec checkpoints. These are the checkpoints that have physical lanes for empty vehicles directly at the checkpoint on both the Ukrainian and Polish sides.
• The launch of a pilot project with registration in YeCherha immediately before crossing the border at the Nižankovychy – Malhovice checkpoint for a period of one month.
• The issue of cancellation or amendments to the "transport visa-free regime" was not discussed and was not on the agenda.
• At the same time, the Polish protesters insist on the operation of the Uhryniv – Dolhobychuv and Nižankovychy – Malhovice checkpoints only for EU-registered vehicles.

"This position is unacceptable for Ukraine and the European Union because it is a discriminatory norm 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 30 November," the message emphasises.

At the same time, the Ministry for Restoration, together with DG MOVE, is developing strategic solutions to settle the situation with queues at the border and reduce the tension in road transport.

The key points are improving the capacity of existing checkpoints, including the effectiveness of phytosanitary and other types of control, to comply with the memoranda regulating the number of trucks allowed across the border. It is also about developing the Action Plan for developing Ukrainian-Polish checkpoints (on the Ukrainian side, the development strategy is already ready).