The requests of Polish carriers for the return of permits for Ukraine will remain unanswered, the head of the Recovery Agency emphasized.
Ukraine did not even intend to discuss the main demands of the Polish carriers, blocking three border checkpoints for the second day. This is what the head of the State Agency for Reconstruction and Infrastructure Development, Mustafa Nayem, said in Telegram on November 7.
As the official clarified, the participants in the blockade demand the return of the permitting regime for Ukrainian carriers and a reduction in the number of permits to the level that existed before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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“Ukraine does not even want to discuss the return to the permit system. The agreement on the liberalization of cargo transport was adopted and agreed by all EU members, signed between the European Union and Ukraine, and not by any individual country,” Nayem emphasized.
He recalled that until June 2022, every carrier traveling on the territory of the European Union must obtain permission to cross the state border with the relevant EU countries.
Since 2016, after the entry into force of the Free Trade Agreement between Ukraine and the EU, the European Union has become Ukraine’s main trading partner with a trade turnover share of 40.8% of total foreign trade. Further growth is limited by the lack of permits for international transport, especially in countries with common borders: Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Moldova.
“Every year this led to the fact that in the fall the cost of cargo increased significantly, Ukrainian and foreign producers were physically unable to export their products. For example, only in 2021, due to the crisis with the Polish permits, we lost up to 500 million euros only because the permit ran out, and the Polish side refused to give a new one. Who remembers, the market then just stopped,” Nayem recalled.
In 2016, Ukraine had a quota of 200,000 Polish permits, and in 2021 – only 120,000 permits, moreover, the total trade turnover with EU countries increased by almost 45%. At the same time, Poland increased quotas for carriers from Russia and Belarus for five consecutive years.
According to Art. 136 of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU, the parties do not introduce conditions for mutual market access that are stricter compared to the situation existing on the date before the date of entry into the Agreement.
“Thus, the Polish side directly violated our rights, because it created conditions worse than those that existed at the time when the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU entered into force. In addition, such actions by neighbors violate Article 5 of Freedom of Travel of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which Ukraine joined on February 5, 2008, which provides freedom of travel through the territory of each party on the most convenient routes for international travel,” Nayem explained.
In the fall of 2021, Ukraine applied to the European Commission with a request to start consultations on the above issues. In fact, the licensing system is an artificial barrier to free trade, limiting not only bilateral trade, but the transit of our goods to EU countries.
“I really hope that we will not go back to this shameful and discriminatory practice, which limited us from trade with the EU before the big war and could hit our economy today, when road transport is the main source of our export,” Nayem concluded.
We remind you that on November 6, the strike of Polish carriers began on the Polish-Ukrainian border, demanding the abolition of transport visa-free travel for Ukraine.
Polish carriers block the movement of trucks at checkpoints Korchova – Krakovets, Grebennoye – Rava-Russkaya, Dorogusk – Yagodin. They demand the return of permits for commercial transport for Ukraine.
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Source: korrespondent
I’m Liza Grey, an experienced news writer and author at the Buna Times. I specialize in writing about economic issues, with a focus on uncovering stories that have a positive impact on society. With over seven years of experience in the news industry, I am highly knowledgeable about current events and the ways in which they affect our daily lives.