Since October, the wait at the border between Poland and Ukraine has been getting longer and longer. Truck drivers used to stay there for between two and five days, but now they often have to hang in the lines for up to 11-12 days. Despite the large influx from both sides of the border, however, the Polish side is not recruiting more staff. Quite the opposite – the number of processed cars even seems to be decreasing.
Export to Germany
More news from Ukraine
Markus Kolau is the commercial director of the German firm Kromberg & Schubert. His company produces cables in Ukraine that urgently need to pass through Poland to reach Germany. Nearly 8,000 people work in Ukraine for the company from the state of Baden-Württemberg. The cables they produce are intended for the German automobile industry – for 3,000 cars per day. In a report for the German public-law media ARD Kolau says that it is not certain whether their production in Ukraine will be able to continue at all: “Now jobs in Ukraine are also at risk. But not because of the war, but because of the long wait at the border, which has been going on for 12 days now or even longer.”
The long wait at the border with the EU
According to Kolau, the responsibility for this is entirely on the Polish side. The authorities do not provide additional employees, he says. Control of the Ukrainian-Polish border has actually been tightened because of the import of Ukrainian wheat and corn, ARD explains. In the spring, Polish farmers protested competition from Ukraine, and Warsaw called on Brussels to impose a ban on imports. At the moment, however, Poland is acting on its own. The principle is: “no” to imports into the country, “yes” to transit to the West. As a result, numerous and lengthy checks are needed, which can only be shortened with the help of tricks, notes the German media. Colau explains how this is done: “What we do now, but it can’t last forever, is we transfer the goods from the big trucks to vans that are waiting in another line,” he says. There the wait is not so long and the goods still enter the European Union. The big problem is that it is expensive. About 20 vans are needed to carry a load that is normally transported by truck.
Deliberate actions by Warsaw?
ARD’s inquiries to the Polish Ministry of Transport about whether border traffic is being deliberately delayed, which other companies have also complained about, remain unanswered, the German public-law media reported. On top of all that, Polish truck drivers have been on strike since the beginning of the week. They have even blocked individual border crossings. They, on the other hand, accuse Ukraine of discriminating against them and bearing the blame for the long wait at the border. According to them, since the beginning of the war, Ukrainian truck drivers have had easy access to Poland and do not need the previously required transport permits.
Transfer of responsibility
Carrier Tomasz Borkowski told ARD: “Before the start of the war in Ukraine, Poland issued 160,000 permits to Ukrainian companies. This year, until September alone, Ukrainian companies have already made over 880,000 trips across the Polish border. We want to protect our market, we want the permits for carriage to be returned.” And so the responsibility is constantly transferred from one side to the other – Kyiv points the finger at Warsaw, and Warsaw – the EU, summarizes ARD. However, the dispute should be resolved quickly – if the goods do not cross the border from Ukraine to the EU, the car factories in Germany will soon stop working, warns the trade director.
Author: Martin Adam ARD
Place a rating:
☆
☆
☆
☆
☆
3.7
Rating 3.7 out of 6 votes.
2023-11-10 14:16:00
#Chaos #border #Ukraine #Poland #secretly #plan
