Lorry drivers from Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, North Macedonia and Montenegro are protesting strict EU residence rules by blocking border crossings.
Since midday Monday, drivers have halted freight traffic at their countries’ borders with EU neighbours Hungary, Croatia and Bulgaria, Serbian media reported.
The open-ended action is directed against the increasingly strict enforcement of an EU residence regulation, according to which non-EU citizens from European countries are only allowed to stay in the EU for 90 days within a 180-day period.
Truck drivers who travel almost daily between their home countries and EU states say the rule is virtually impossible for them to comply with.
The rule has been in place for some time, but was not previously enforced for truck drivers and commuters. The situation changed when EU border authorities began using computers to register non-EU citizens entering at the external borders, thereby recording the exact length of their stays.
Freight associations from the Balkans complain that in recent months, hundreds of truck drivers have been stopped by the police in EU countries for exceeding the permitted length of stay and deported as irregular migrants.
“Ninety days in six months is simply not enough,” Nedjo Mandic from the Serbian Transport Association told Serbian television station N1.
“Our drivers cannot earn enough money in this period, we cannot cover our costs and are forced to cease operations,” he added.
A spokesman for the European Commission in Brussels said that the EU was aware of the concerns expressed by transport companies in the Balkan region.
“We are aware of the concerns raised by transport operators in the Western Balkans. We are following the situation closely and we are in contact with our partners in the region.”