The border between Ukraine and Poland will soon be unblocked: the Ministry of Community Development of Territories and Infrastructure (Ministry of Restoration) and the Ministry of Infrastructure of Poland have agreed on the action plan necessary for this, the Ministry of Restoration reported.
“Ministry of restoration together with the new leadership of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Poland agreed on a plan of action to unblock the border”, – stated in the message of the Ministry of restoration in Facebook following the results of the meeting of the Deputy Ministers Sergei Derkach and Yuriy Vaskov with the new Deputy Minister of Infrastructure of Poland Pawel Gantsazh on Friday.
It is indicated that the meeting was a continuation of agreements at the level of Deputy Prime Minister for Recovery – head of the Ministry of Recovery Alexander Kubrakov and Polish Minister of Infrastructure Dariusz Klimczak on December 20.
It is noted that the parties reached an understanding on compromise solutions and their implementation. The next stage – negotiations at the level of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Poland and the protesters. The issue of changes to the current Agreement on liberalization of freight transport is not discussed, stressed the Ministry.
“On the third day after the appointment welcomed in Kiev the new Deputy Minister of infrastructure Pawel Ganczaj. Together we finalized the action plan for unblocking the border. Agreed a protocol with a unified position of the ministries. About this meeting agreed on Wednesday Alexander Kubrakov and Polish Infrastructure Minister Dariusz Klimczak”, – wrote in Facebook on Friday Derkach.
According to him, the Ukrainian side “offered the things they are ready to do to unblock the checkpoints”. At the same time, the agreement on liberalization of freight traffic is fundamental and is not being discussed now, he stressed.
On Wednesday after the meeting between Klimczak and Kubrakov, Poland’s Ministry of Infrastructure said on its official website that its main topic was the protest of Polish carriers at the Polish-Ukrainian border.
“Together with the Ukrainian side, we must find a solution to the reasons for the ongoing protest and meet the expectations of entrepreneurs working in the field of freight transportation between Poland and Ukraine,” the statement quoted the Polish infrastructure minister as saying.
It was also reported that Klimczak handed Kubrakov the demands received from the protesters at the meeting in Lublin. In particular, they spoke about the need for the Ukrainian side to improve the mechanism of crossing the border by trucks that use the Ukrainian system of electronic queue, the exclusion of registration in this system of empty vehicles returning from Ukraine, the exclusion from this system of EU carriers, including Polish carriers, at the border crossing points specified by them. Alternatively, the principle of reciprocity may be introduced regarding the period of stay of EU vehicles in Ukraine and Ukrainian TCs in the EU.
The report said that Klimczak also emphasized the need to modify the agreement between the EU and Ukraine on road transportation of goods (“transport visa-free zone”), on the complete abolition of which the protesters initially insisted.
As reported, Polish carriers began the blockade of the checkpoints “Jahodyn – Dorohusk”, “Krakivets – Korczowa” and “Rawa Ruska – Hrebenne” on November 6, and on November 22, the protest was joined by the organization Oszukana Wieś, which blocked the checkpoint “Shehyni – Medyka”. Only empty vehicle checkpoints and low-tonnage vehicle checkpoints remained outside the blockade.
