What is the reason for the unrest on the border between Belarus and Poland?
In recent days, the situation in and around Brest, where there is only one active border crossing on the border with Poland (for passenger and cargo transport), looks very unusual. So, there are more than 1,000 trucks in the queue of trucks for the Kozlovichi checkpoint, which are forced to stand still for days and occupy the side of the main road in Belarus – M1 / E30.
Who is to blame for the hype on the border between Belarus and the EU?
Representatives of the Belarusian authorities unequivocally associate the problem of queues at the border with the actions of their neighbors, scolding them for not complying with agreements on the passage of vehicles. According to the State Border Committee of Belarus, this was the reason for the current situation, when more than two thousand trucks are waiting to enter the EU countries in the direction of Lithuania and Poland. As noted in the Belarusian department, about half of these heavy trucks are located near the border crossing “Kukuryki – Kozlovichi”, and Polish services continue to delay the registration process, passing a maximum of 25 trucks per hour.
Chairman of the Brest Regional Executive Committee Yury Shuleiko, in conversation with journalists, admitted that he did not remember such cases when a 30-kilometer queue of trucks stretched to the border. “For our part, we are trying to ease the tension: there are additional parking lots in the city, but drivers don’t want to go there so as not to lose a place in the queue,” said Shuleiko.
He also complained that, in addition to conflict situations, when truck drivers try to get around colleagues who are in line, many doubts arise due to the appearance of spontaneous dumps. “I really don’t like this and we are going to act. In the meantime, we are transporting water, launching food trucks in the queue, putting garbage cans and dry cupboards,” said the head of the regional executive committee.
“It is usually difficult before the New Year, but in the spring this is nonsense”
Truckers themselves do not so unequivocally assess the current situation near the checkpoints, noting that the Belarusian side is also to blame. “I’ve been traveling to Europe for ten years, but I don’t really remember these queues,” says Kirill, a truck driver from Kazakhstan. “Usually heavy flights before the New Year, when everyone is in a hurry to fulfill contracts and there are a lot of cars at the border, but in the spring this is just nonsense.
According to Kirill, sometimes the line moves 100-200 meters in a whole day: “I call my colleagues who have already crossed the border and they say that in Kozlovichi the Belarusian customs has been checking goods and documents for a long time: it’s like they are just looking for a reason to find violations and detain the goods.”
Another driver, who introduced himself as Aleksey, said he underwent a thorough inspection of the truck when it entered Belarus from Poland last time. “We checked everything we could and asked a bunch of personal questions that had nothing to do with the trip. I know truckers were even asked to show their phones, but we don’t understand what sparked so much interest,” shares DW interlocutor.
He also claims that only in recent days have local authorities begun to pay attention to the sharp increase in queues at the border, launching mobile stores. Before that, drivers agreed with each other, going to the nearest settlement for groceries.
Buses at checkpoints can be stopped for tens of hours
A tense situation is also observed at the Brest checkpoint, where traffic is organized for cars and buses. If drivers of personal cars, after the closure of border crossings in the Grodno region (Bruzgi and Berestovitsa), are mentally prepared to spend a lot of time in line on the way to Poland, then for passengers of regular buses, reality current has become a real shock.
“It’s unrealistic when a bus from Brest to Warsaw has to last a maximum of five or six hours, taking border control into account, but is forced to spend twice as long just at the border”, complains Elena from Brest. Although there is a separate lane for buses at checkpoints, this does not affect the speed of crossing the border now, as the number of units of this type of transport has increased sharply. Such unpredictability is especially worrying for those for whom a trip to Poland is not the final destination on the route.
A resident of Minsk, Svetlana, tells that a few weeks ago she was traveling by bus to Warsaw to continue her journey across Europe from the airport of the Polish capital: “There were about half of the bus like me, and then we discussed it, given a day before the planned departure, but right now that margin of time might not be enough, so my advice is to go two days in advance.”
Anyone wishing to import merchandise under the preferential regime faces queues
The current excitement on the Belarusian-Polish border has another reason, which influenced the rapid increase in the number of buses and cars at checkpoints. It was expected that from April 1, 2023, the threshold for duty-free importation of goods by individuals into the territory of the Eurasian Economic Union (which includes Belarus) will be changed.
Now there is a preferential regime: citizens of Belarus can import goods for personal use worth 1,000 euros into their country without paying duties. However, starting next month, this fee was expected to be reduced to 200 euros, as a result of which people are in a hurry to shop in EU countries within the same limits.
The day before, on March 30, at a meeting of the Eurasian Economic Commission, it was decided to extend for another six months (until October 1, 2023) the existing increased limits for importing goods from abroad with tax exemption. It is difficult to predict how much this will calm the situation at the border. With the arrival of summer, queues are likely to increase with vehicles carrying people going abroad not just to shop. They will also be accompanied by those who go on vacation or travel.
Source: DW
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