Mandic: EU has not found a solution for the stay of truck drivers in the Schengen zone, meeting next week

The President of the Serbian Association for International Transport, Nedjo Mandic, has said that the European Commission (EC) has not offered any solution for removing the restrictions on the duration of stay of professional truck drivers from the Western Balkans in the Schengen zone countries.

A meeting with the relevant EU directorate to find a solution for the exemption of truck drivers in international transport from the EU rule that their stay in the Schengen zone is limited to 90 days in a period of 180 days should, according to him, take place at the end of next week.

He told Beta that the associations of truck drivers from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and North Macedonia had sent a letter to the EU and requested a meeting, suggesting Belgrade or Brussels as the place for the talks, but that it would probably be held online. Mandic added that this form of talks was not appropriate. He said that the three relevant directors from the EU Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport were on vacation until August 12, so the conversation was expected to take place after that.

– Drivers who find themselves in the Schengen zone are still being deported, and trucks are being detained even after April 10 this year, when it was agreed to “erase” (annul) the days spent in the Schengen zone up to that date and start a new count. Those drivers who have fulfilled the 90-day quota in the last six months are still unable to enter Croatia, Hungary or Romania – said Mandic.

He added that since the introduction of the 90/180 rule in October 2025 for the stay of transporters in the Schengen zone countries, which in addition to EU countries also included Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican, nothing had changed to enable transporters to carry out international transport.

At the end of January 2026, transporters from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina blocked the cargo terminals of the border crossings for four days, but no solution was found to exempt them from the limited stay in the Schengen countries. The EU introduced the 90/180 rule to prevent the uncontrolled influx of migrants, which equated the status of professional truck drivers in international transport with that of tourists.

After the last meeting of transporters from the Western Balkans, international transport companies offered the European Commission August 10, 2026, as a deadline to state how to solve the problem of these drivers, but they did not receive a response.

Since the Commission did not provide any concrete solutions, transporters from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia will hold a regional meeting in North Macedonia on August 11 to discuss what to do next.

PU Međunarodni Transport Beograd

Serbian Association for International Transport

Neđo Mandić

restrictions on the duration of stay of professional truck drivers from the Western Balkans in the Schengen zone countries

Schengen zone