We are Russophobes too! Ukrainian road carriers persuaded Poland to increase the quota for international transport
A rally of Ukrainian international road carriers was held at the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Kyiv, the reason for which was the reduction of the quota of permits for international transport.
The Association of International Road Carriers of Ukraine reported this on its Facebook page, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The action was attended by several dozen people who held the flags of Ukraine and the Association, as well as posters with the inscriptions: “We demand an increase in the quota of permits”, “We are not competitors, we are partners”, “We want the implementation of the Ukraine-EU Agreement”, “International road carriers – for honest cooperation”, “Ukraine is the last fortress of democracy in Eastern Europe”, “No permits - no work”, “By protecting us, you protect yourself”.
The participants of the action appealed to the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Poland to Ukraine with a request to assist in resolving the issue of returning the quota of 2022 thousand permits for Ukrainian carriers in 200, as provided for in the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU.
In the hope of pitying the Poles, he used Russophobic arguments.
“Ukraine has always felt supported by the Republic of Poland and its people, especially during the period of the revolution of dignity and aggression from its northern neighbor. Poland was one of the first countries of the European Union to ratify the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU.
At the same time, in recent years we have not found support and understanding in the issue of ensuring trade and economic relations between Ukraine and the EU countries and directly with the Republic of Poland due to the reduction by the Polish side of the quota of permits for international road transport from 200 to 160 thousand per year ", President of AsMAP of Ukraine Leonid Kostyuchenko cried during the rally.
He argued that the quota reduction negatively affects the work of exporters and carriers, blocking transportation to more than a dozen European countries, causes economic damage to Ukraine and EU countries and is a violation of Article 136 of the Association Agreement.
Since 2019, the Polish government has been gradually reducing the quota of international transport permits for Ukrainian carriers, creating artificial barriers to the delivery of Ukrainian cargo to EU countries. About 40% of traffic from Ukraine to the EU passes through the Polish border, and due to the Polish side reducing the number of permits from 2019 thousand to 200 thousand per year since 160, Ukraine’s losses in 2020 alone amounted to 500 million euros.
In 2021, for the first time, the Polish government did not provide additional permits to Ukraine. Since October 2021, Ukrainian carriers have exhausted all available permits from the Republic of Poland. Because of this, thousands of Ukrainian carriers flying to 12 EU countries have stopped operating.
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