BELGRADE / SARAJEVO – Truck drivers from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina stopped the blockade of the freight border terminals towards the Schengen Area today, one day after truck drivers from Montenegro and North Macedonia did the same.
Yesterday, the European Commission presented a new strategy on asylum and immigration policy, which also envisions a solution to the difficulties with which the truck drivers from the WB are faced, in the form of an extended short stay, which is under consideration.
The Business Association “International Transport” from Serbia announced today that at 3:00 p.m., the blockade of freight traffic at border crossings was lifted and that the transport of goods will resume, considering that any further prolongation of disruptions to the freight transport chain would place domestic companies and citizens in a difficult position.
At the same time, the Association called on the European Commission, the Schengen member states, and European businesses, aware of the importance of uninterrupted transport chains, to help ensure that there are “no further incomprehensible arrests and deportations” of its drivers, according to the statement published on the “International Transport” website, FoNet reports.
They also emphasised that supply chains must not be disrupted again.
“We expect a helping hand from the other side as well, and treatment befitting people who, in emergency situations such as the pandemic, were the only ones delivering goods to all of us in Europe. Let us not wait until we are left without them,” the Business Association “International Transport” said.
Truck drivers from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia began a blockade of the freight border terminals towards the Schengen Area on 26 January, to protest the new EU Entry-Exit system (EES), which has been gradually implemented since October 2025.
Transport associations from the four countries in the region claim that the ESS “threatens their ability to work”, since a maximum stay of 90 days in the Schengen Area over a period of 180 days “is not sufficient for professional truck drivers from non-EU countries”. In this context, the EU is urged to grant truck drivers the status of cross-border workers.
