The Association of Hungarian Road Carriers (Magyar Közúti Fuvarozók Egyesülete – MKFE) announced on Friday that road hauliers had been given the go-ahead by local police to hold a demonstration at the Záhony-Csop border crossing on Monday 11 December between 10am and 3pm.
Similar to the Polish and Slovakian protests that have been going on for weeks, the aim of the Hungarian campaign is to draw the attention of the European Commission and the Hungarian government to “the serious market-distorting effects of the agreement between the European Union and Ukraine and Moldova on the partial liberalisation of road freight transport”.
Hundreds of Hungarian companies are “on the verge of bankruptcy” as a result of Ukrainian hauliers entering the EU market, MKFE secretary-genera told the Hungarian News Agency on Saturday.
Tivadar Árvay said that given the war situation, the European Union had allowed Ukrainian hauliers to enter the common market, mainly for humanitarian supplies.
The permit has been extended until June 2024, which has resulted in the mileage of Ukrainian trucks on Hungarian roads increasing by more than 30 per cent, while the mileage of Hungarian vehicles has decreased by 4 per cent.
He added that Ukrainian hauliers come from a very different economic and legal environment, have different costs, and are not subject to EU rules. “Ukrainian hauliers are operating at a significant price advantage and are destroying the hauliers’ part of the logistics sector in the Member States,” the Secretary-General stressed.
“We have asked the European Union – the transport committee met last week – to review its agreement with Ukraine and to take into account the interests of EU member states, including Hungarian hauliers, and not to allow Ukrainian hauliers to enter the European Union for business purposes long after the original intentions have been exceeded,” said Tivadar Árvay.
According to the Hungarian police, at 8 am this morning at Záhony, the waiting time for lorries to cross the border from Hungary into Ukraine was more than 48 hours. Therefore, on the M3 motorway, the police are diverting freight traffic towards Ukraine to the M35 and M4 – towards the Hungarian-Romanian border.
On Sunday afternoon, the Union of Road Transporters of Slovakia reportedly announced that it would continue its protest at the Ukrainian border. Lorries will block the border crossing from 15:00 until further notice.