"Regret, sorry for the girl, for green Ukraine" - soon, the melody of the famous banquet hit will be able to be hummed by those who wait for goods traveling by trains from China. All because of the blockade ordered by Kiev and which additionally hits supply chains already strained to the limit.
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But where did the Ukrainians' decision come from? Why did Poland enter a dispute with another neighbor after the Czech Republic, Germany or Belarus? Well, if you don't know what's going on, you can blindly assume that the game is about business and big money. Is this case an exception? Nothing could be more wrong.
A war for greater limits
The government in Kiev demands that Poland increase the number of permits for Ukrainian trucks to pass through our country. Until 2018, this amounted to 200,000, but from 2019 it was reduced to 160,000, to which both countries agreed. As Szymon Huptyś, spokesman for the Ministry of Infrastructure, revealed in an interview with the professional service "Rynek Infrastruktury", such an action had a very specific goal. - The Polish and Ukrainian sides have agreed on a new quota in order to reduce the disproportion in the use of licenses for Polish carriers in Ukraine and Ukrainian carriers in Poland - he admitted.
This action was due to the fact that while the Ukrainian side used its entire limit of travel permits, in the case of Polish carriers it was only possible to talk about using just over a quarter of the entire pool. No wonder then that Warsaw proposed to reduce the number of permits, and Ukraine agreed to such a solution exactly three years ago.
It seemed, therefore, that it was difficult to find any conflict on this level, but recently the situation has changed by 180 degrees. Ukrainians expect Poland to increase the limit on permits for their carriers again. The problem is that they do not intend to sit down at the negotiating table - perhaps the case of the dispute between Poles and Czechs over Turów made them think? - and they are trying to put pressure on our country by means of blackmail.
Negotiations? What negotiation?
If, in the opinion of the Ukrainian side, too few permits for journeys are severely affecting their interests and the possible development of businesses, the answer should be given in a way that will hurt the neighbor in exactly the same way. Kiev has blocked the passage of trains going from China to Poland. This situation has been going on for more than a week and is leading to very serious delays as well as financial losses.
The aforementioned trains cannot travel on a shorter and cheaper route reaching the Euroterminal in Sławków. The road to it takes about two weeks and is optimal at the moment, but due to the blockade, the trains must go so-called. the northern route leading to Małaszewicze via Belarus. Such a road is not only more expensive, because the containers have to be reloaded twice, not only once - as in the case of the first route - at the border of China and Kazakhstan - but also longer. As reported by „Rzeczpospolita”, in the latter case, delays may reach up to three weeks.
It is difficult to reach agreement
What does the Polish side say to all of this? Warsaw does not rule out the possibility that the limits of permits could be increased, but this will only happen if the road infrastructure on the part of our neighbor improves. It is essential to avoid congestion and unnecessary nerves of drivers at border crossing points. - This task rests with both countries. We established a memorandum on the daily number of vehicles to cross four borders: Korczowa, Hrebenne, Dorohusk and Medyka. In Korczowa, since 2016, there is an almost empty heavy vehicle check-in terminal on the Polish side. He is waiting for the opening of the same on the Ukrainian side, revealed Rafał Weber, deputy minister of infrastructure, in an interview with „Rzeczpospolita”.
So Poles and Ukrainians insist on their arguments. Worst of all, there is no common ground for the time being, and the dispute could get even hotter soon. Everything indicates that Kiev - while referring to the fact that the limits lead to the restriction of Ukraine's foreign trade - will file a formal lawsuit against Poland to Brussels. Such a possibility has already been announced by Taras Kaczka, who in Denys Szmyhala's government serves as deputy minister of economic development.
How will it all end? It is not known yet. Both sides seem determined, and as long as the dispute continues, the entrepreneurs who run their businesses in these difficult times will lose applause - as is usually the case in this type of cases. This is another blow for them after the problems with rising prices of supplies by sea and air.
