Truckers Hand EU Delegations a Letter and Threaten New Border Blockade From Sept. 14

Professional drivers from the Western Balkans took their complaint about Schengen stay limits to EU delegations across the region, warning that border blockades could resume from Sept. 14.

Truckers gathered outside EU offices in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and North Macedonia and delivered a letter. They said they wanted to work in the European Union without being treated as tourists subject to the maximum stay of 90 days in any 180-day period.

Neđo Mandić, president of an association of professional drivers, said the drivers had received two letters in two days. One, he said, told them that nothing would change and that they should adapt to the 90-in-180 rule. The other said the EU was seeking a solution but would need to change several laws.

Mandić said the drivers had previously been told in Brussels, in 2014 and again on Jan. 29, that special visas would resolve the problem. “Seven months have passed and nothing is happening. We cannot wait, our companies will shut down. That will harm us and our economy,” he said.

The drivers described the situation as alarming. They cited a Serbian company with 11 drivers whose five drivers were turned back from the Schengen border that day. They said they would take more radical action if no solution emerged.

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Seven months have passed and nothing is happening. We cannot wait, our companies will shut down. That will harm us and our economy.