European Commission to announce solution for all Balkan truckers in Serbia on September 10

The European Commission is expected to announce a solution for all truckers in the Balkan region at a meeting in Serbia on September 10, the AFP news agency reported. The agency, in an article from Sarajevo on the occasion of the end of the truckers’ strike in Bosnia and Herzegovina, states that this was announced by Velibor Peulic, coordinator of the truck drivers’ association “Konzorcijum Logistika BiH.”

Bosnian truck drivers who have been blocking roads since the beginning of this week demanding better access to European Union roads, called off their strike on Tuesday and traffic in Bosnia and Herzegovina is back to normal today, AFP reports.

– Border cargo terminals are operating at full capacity, and traffic on all roads is running smoothly – Bisera Hasimbegovic, spokesperson for the BIHAMK drivers’ association, told reporters.

AFP states that more than 90% of goods transport in Bosnia and Herzegovina is carried out by road.

Truck drivers also blocked cargo terminals at a dozen border crossings for a day and a half during the strike, mostly with EU member Croatia. Representatives of the sector, which employs between 15,000 and 18,000 drivers, are calling on authorities to negotiate with the EU to change a rule they see as discriminatory: they are only allowed to spend 90 days within the European Union out of 180.

The drivers are demanding an exemption, or for the time they spend within the EU to be counted in hours, like their working hours, and not in days, since on some days they are only in the EU for an hour or so, and are counted as having been there for the whole day. Their representatives announced on Tuesday evening that they had reached some concessions.

– There are still some technical points, but we can say that the key issues are now being resolved – said Peulic.

AFP states that the EU is Bosnia and Herzegovina’s main trading partner - of the EUR 22.9 billion in trade in 2024, 64% was with the EU, according to data from the Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Klaster Logistika BiH

BIHAMK Sarajevo

Konzorcijum Logistika BiH

BIHAMK

Velibor Peulić

Bisera Hašimbegović

solution for Balkan truckers