The European Commission today said it was “disappointed” with Poland’s “unfair” request to review the agreement between the European Union and Ukraine that allows free transit of goods trucks between the EU and the country invaded by Russia, an agreement that they also question. Hungary and Slovakia.

The European Commissioner for Transport, Adina Vaelan, was against reviewing the agreement, reminded the member states that they are obliged to implement it and did not rule out opening a file if they do not do so, although she called for calming down and resolving the situation on the ground. Vaelan assured that there are “reasons” to initiate a file and that the blockade being carried out by Polish carriers, encouraged by the Government of that country, is unacceptable and unfair to Ukraine, and is causing an enormous cost, reports Servimedia.

“We do not question aid to Ukraine. We have to provide military, financial, humanitarian aid” but “I urge the European Commission to make an evaluation of the agreement with Ukraine” to “review it and return to the permits as soon as possible,” said the secretary. of State for Transport of Poland, Rafal Weber, in a debate with his European counterparts, meeting in council in Brussels.

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the EU agreed to suspend until June 30, 2024 the need for Ukrainian and Moldovan carriers to present permits to enter the community bloc, but Poland, Hungary and Slovakia want to restore the old regime next January 1st.

Since the beginning of November, Polish transporters have blocked thousands of Ukrainian trucks at the border, protests in which Slovak drivers have also joined.

The Slovak Minister of Transport, Jozef Raz, said he shared “Poland’s opinion” and called for “changes in the agreement between the EU and Ukraine”, while the Hungarian minister, Nándor Csepreghy, assured that “the agreement causes serious damage to the national road transport sector”.

Other countries, particularly the Baltics, were against the proposal, such as Lithuania, which stressed that “the agreement is an important step to support Ukraine” or Latvia, which said it did not support the request but recognized that the agreement “has must be adapted to the current situation and its challenges” and encouraged the Commission to “assess the situation and ensure a level playing field”.

The European Commissioner for Transport, Adina Vaelan, adamantly against the revision of the agreement, said she was “disappointed that modifications to all this from some Member States are once again on the table (…). We all have to be committed to help to Ukraine in imports and in imports” said Vaelan.

The commissioner pointed out that it is “incredible that there are carriers that are blocking” the borders and that there are Governments that take on these protests.

“It doesn’t seem fair to me (…). It is a European agreement and we must defend it, and not come and say that we must start the debate again because there are protests in their countries,” added Vaelan, who called for “unblocking the situation as soon as possible.

Later, at a press conference, the commissioner recalled that the agreement was approved at the time by the Twenty-Seven, not by the European Commission.

“This ping-pong between Ukraine and the European Commission is unfair,” Vaelan added at a press conference at the end of the council, where she added that she is “totally determined to continue defending this agreement.”

“We defend the commissioner’s position,” said the Spanish Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, representing the Spanish presidency of the Council of the EU.