Baltic ambassadors in Warsaw have expressed their displeasure to the Polish authorities about the blockade of truck traffic on the Ukrainian border.
The issue has been raised repeatedly with the Polish authorities, according to the Estonian Foreign Ministry.
“There was a meeting/demarche of the three Baltic ambassadors at the Polish Ministry of Infrastructure in Warsaw,” Estonian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Brita Kikas said.
“We respect the right of lorry drivers to protest. Unfortunately, this has led to a difficult situation that creates problems for other carriers and additional difficulties for the Ukrainian economy,” Kikas added.
According to the spokeswoman, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna discussed the issue with Poland’s former Foreign Minister Johannes Rau and was planning to raise the issue during his successor’s visit to Tallin.
The blockade of the Ukrainian border was also discussed at a meeting between Tsahkna and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron on Monday, Kikas added.
In diplomacy, a demarche means an appeal by one government to another in order to draw attention to an issue, often with proposals to take concrete action.
Polish truckers have been blocking the main border crossings on the Poland-Ukraine border since early November in protest of what they see as unfair competition. They demand a return to the permits system that limits the number of Ukrainian trucks entering the EU. The system was suspended following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Since December 1, truckers in Slovakia have also joined the action and blocked the main border crossing between Slovakia and Ukraine. (LRT/Business World Magazine)