Batrovci (Serbia) (AFP) – Hundreds of truck drivers began blockading freight border crossings across several Balkan countries on Monday, demanding changes to the European Union visa system that restricts their time in the bloc. Dozens of goods checkpoints in Bosnia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia were being targeted as part of a coordinated effort by trucking unions that could last up to a week.
“You are punishing, deporting and causing damage to the entire European economy,” Nedjo Mandic from the Association of Transport Operators of Serbia said of officials enforcing EU travel rules. He was speaking to AFP at Batrovci, a major border checkpoint with EU-member Croatia. By shortly after noon, a line of lorries stretched back hundreds of meters (yards) on the Serbian side of the border. Mandic said similar scenes were unfolding at almost all EU borders with the Western Balkans.
Since October, the EU has started rolling out its long-delayed Entry/Exit System (EES) at borders around the 27-nation bloc. The scheme aims to end the use of passport stamps and digitize visitor registration. Although the limit on staying in the EU is not new, the electronic EES system will mean more rigorous enforcement of a 90-day limit every 180 days for non-EU citizens. That would make long-haul trucking from the Balkans “unsustainable,” Mandic said. “We have been telling you that for more than 10 years,” he added.
Driver Nikola Rakonjac, who was taking part in the blockade at Batrovci, said there had been a lot of talk about the issue, but so far nothing had changed. “If we stand united, this is the only way we can resolve it,” the 25-year-old said. North Macedonia’s Association of Transporters warned that although workers had already been operating around the visa restrictions, they would increasingly face arrest or be blocked at the border under tighter digital tracking. “Professional drivers are not tourists. They are not illegal migrants, terrorists, or illegal workers,” the association said in a statement.
The unions said they would immediately end the blockade if the EU were willing to talk with them. If not, it could last a week. According to EU data, the bloc is the Western Balkans’ leading trade partner, accounting for more than 60 percent of the region’s total trade, the vast majority of which is transported by road. Trade in goods specifically between the bloc and the Western Balkans totaled over 83 billion euros ($98 billion) in 2024.
© 2024 AFP
