EU welcomes Poland's deal with truckers on suspension of Ukraine border blockade

The European Union's Commissioner for Transport has welcomed the Polish government's agreement with hauliers protesting at the border with Ukraine, under which the truckers will suspend their blockade until March.

Poland's minister for infrastructure, Dariusz Klimczak (second from right), signs an agreement with hauliers protesting at the border with Ukraine, under which the transport companies suspended their blockade of the border until March 1, in Warsaw, on January 16, 2024.

X/Polish Ministry of Infrastructure

Adina Valean made the statement in an interview with public broadcaster Polish Radio on Tuesday.

The Brussels official said she "welcomed" the suspension of the blockade of the Ukraine border, adding that Tuesday's deal would hopefully help "unblock the border for good."

Valean also stressed that the protest had had "significant consequences for Ukraine, Poland, and the EU," as well as "for all the drivers caught up in the blockade," Polish Radio's polskieradio24.pl website reported.

The commissioner told Polish Radio that the EU's executive would continue to work with member states and Ukraine to "implement measures that increase the efficiency at the border crossing points." 

Unijna komisarz do spraw transportu z zadowoleniem przyjęła zawieszenie blokad przez transportowców na polsko-ukraińskiej granicyhttps://t.co/81jhcBvuFC

— PolskieRadio24.pl (@PR24_pl) January 16, 2024

Earlier on Tuesday, Poland's minister for infrastructure, Dariusz Klimczak, announced that Polish hauliers had agreed to "suspend their blockade of Poland's Korczowa, Hrebenne and Dorohusk checkpoints with Ukraine, until March," pending policy solutions to the standoff. 

The minister stated that in the meantime, the government would work with hauliers' groups, Ukrainian authorities and EU officials to develop "lasting policy solutions for international road transport," polskieradio24.pl reported. 

Source: polskieradio24.pl, gov.pl