On 6 November at 12pm CET, Polish carriers began blocking the Polish-Ukrainian border. Three border crossing points were blocked: Korczowa — Krakovets, Hrebenne — Rava-Ruska, Dorohusk — Yahodyn. Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service confirmed this as soon as the strike started. On the evening of 6 November, the first videos and photos of the blockade were shared. The protesters promised to jam the border with approximately 300 trucks earlier, but on November 6th, there were significantly fewer participants. “Some 20 people are protesting; we didn’t bring many people at once because we are preparing for a longer protest, and we need to have people who can be replaced. Farmers who support us are also expected to join”, commented one of the protest organisers, Tomasz Borkowski, from the Committee for the Defense of Carriers and Employers in the Transport Industry to the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita. Polish carriers received official permission for such actions and announced that the strike would continue until January 2024. “Organizers promise not to block the buses, passenger cars, as well as trucks carrying humanitarian aid and perishable goods. However, congestion may still occur while entering or exiting Ukraine”, said Andriy Demchenko, the State Border Guard Service spokesperson.
On 31 October, the Press Service of Ukraine’s Ministry of Development of Communities, Territories, and Infrastructure announced that they had approached the European Commission to set up a meeting with all the interested parties to resolve the conflict. On 31 October, Ukraine’s ambassador to Poland, Vasyl Zvarych, said that Ukraine had sent a diplomatic note to Poland asking to end the common border blocking. The strike organisers initially sought to start it on 3 November but eventually postponed it by three days. The number of participants and the involvement of official representatives from both sides leave hope that the conflict can be resolved. However, its nature is deeper than a simple conflict of interests on both sides.
Unexpected Competition
Polish carriers have been raising the alarm for quite some time. Earlier this spring, 300 trucks paraded through Warsaw in protest. At that time, one of the main demands was to ban trucks with Russian and Belarusian registrations. One of the protest organisers, Rafal Mekler, stated in an interview with the trans.info internet portal that Polish companies are gradually being pushed out of the market by Belarusian and Russian ones. “Today, they can provide transportation to clients along the entire stretch between, for example, Western Europe and Belarus because, unlike us, they don’t have to reload goods at the border […] today it’s impossible to compete with Belarusian and Russian companies with branches in Poland”, he said at the time.
However, another demand of the strike was to bring back the permit system for Ukrainian carriers, which was in place until 24 February 2022. This time it is also one of the protesers’ key demand.
Until 24 February 2022, Ukrainian carriers were required to obtain permits to cross the border with Poland and transport goods into the European Union. However, these permits were dropped after the full-scale invasion began, and Ukrainian carriers had access to the European transport market equal to Polish carriers. This situation created significant competition between the two. The Polish strikers are also demanding the Polish vehicles to be removed from the Ukrainian electronic queue system called “eQueue” and establish a live queue for them. This is because, upon returning to Poland, Polish carriers with empty vehicles are often forced to wait for a long time in Ukraine. Another demand is to prohibit the registration of carrier companies with the so-called “eastern” share capital, which includes, among others, Ukrainian companies that have registered their branches in Poland and offer transportation within the EU. Additionally, Polish carrier companies are demanding access to the Shliakh (“Way”) registry system to be able to register Ukrainian drivers there. Before the full-scale war, many Ukrainian men worked with Polish carrier companies. Once the war began, these men either stayed in Ukraine, joined the military and could not leave, or remained in Poland and did not return to Ukraine.
“The ban on men leaving Ukraine is also a huge problem for Polish companies because many of those companies used to hire Ukrainian drivers,” explains Michal Potocki, a journalist from the newspaper Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
Polish tractors are blocking the access of Ukrainian trucks at the Polish-Ukrainian border in Dorohusk. Source: Twitter of Michał Wawer, a Polish politician from the Confederation party
Sleeping volcano
The strike organizers officially state that they plan to block the border until January 2024. This will have significant consequences both for the Ukrainian and Polish economies. Various ministries in Poland and Ukraine, as well as the European Commission, are currently involved in resolving this dispute. At the same time, political parties are not staying silent. The Confederation Party, the most anti-Ukrainian political force in the new Polish parliament, expressed their support for the strikers. One of the participants in the strike was Rafal Mekler, the leader of the Confederation Party Lublin’s branch.
Could this dispute escalate into a conflict similar to the grain export conflict? “At this point, it’s difficult to answer that question because we don’t know the composition of the next Polish government yet, particularly those who will be responsible for transportation. We don’t know which party representative will take that role”, explains Michal Potocki. The government’s actions may vary depending on whether a representative of the Left or the Third Way takes over the position. Meanwhile, the Polish journalist speculates that until December, the old government of Law and Justice will continue to govern Poland, so they might use this short period to gain political dividends. The parliamentary campaign ended, but local elections are expected to be held in Poland in April 2024, followed by European Parliament elections in June. “So there are all the conditions for this protest to escalate into a major conflict,” he adds. We’ll have to see how the new government reacts.
Michal Potocki suggests that the new government is unlikely to engage in major ‘rhetorical conflicts’ like the previous Law and Justice government. However, it doesn’t mean there won’t be a new conflict. The interests of carriers have been voiced, and it’s a significant industry for Poland.
According to the Road Transport in Poland 2023 report published in June 2023, the entire transport, shipping, and logistics sector contributed 375 billion Polish zlotys to the Polish budget in 2022. This sector represents 7% of the Polish economy in terms of GDP and 6,5% in terms of employment. So, the stakes are substantial.
“I think the new government will want to demonstrate that they are protecting this market. On the other hand, it may be more motivaed to seek a solution in cooperation with the European Commission, in order to address this issue within the EU legal framework”, notes the Polish journalist.
This has already been the second similar crisis over the past year, which exposed the conflict of interests between Ukrainian and Polish companies. As Ukraine continues progressing on its path to the EU, similar challenges will inevitably arise. Therefore, one of the key questions is how to prevent such crises rather than just swapping them under the carpet. “I think negotiations regarding Ukraine’s accession to the EU will potentially cause the most conflicts, especially when it comes to agricultural policy, food production, and exports because, in these areas, our businesses are real competitors”, says Michal Potocki. Resolving conflicting aspects already appears to be a sensitive issue for bilateral relations between Ukraine and Poland. However, it doesn’t that the differences can’t be resolved and the effort to do so much be abandoned.
