A truck driver in his truck block with different Polish transport company owners the access to the Polish-Ukraine border crossing in protest against "unfair" competition in Hrebenne, Poland, on Dec 4, 2023. (PHOTO / AFP)

WARSAW - Poland is set to call for the European Commission to reinstate restrictions on Ukrainian trucks arriving at the Polish border, the government announced on Monday.

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Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki will demand that the permit system for Ukrainian trucks passing through and arriving in Poland should be restored, in view of a month-long protest at the border.

Trucks belonging to different Polish transport company owners block access to the Polish-Ukraine border crossing in protest against "unfair" competition in Hrebenne, Poland, on Dec 4, 2023. (PHOTO / AFP)

The waiting time on Monday at the Hrebenne crossing was 10 days, with around 900 trucks stuck in a 70-km queue, the Polish Press Agency reported. Meanwhile, around 520 trucks were waiting in another 16-km-long queue at the Dorohusk crossing, with a five-day clearance time, according to the police in Chelm

Polish drivers have been blocking border crossings since Nov 6, complaining that their business has been undercut by Ukrainian firms. They want the European Union (EU) to reinstate commercial permits for Ukrainian companies to operate in the bloc, which were waived soon after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.

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The drivers also call for the suspension of operating permits for Ukrainian haulage firms, which were established after the beginning of the conflict.

"We will very strongly and unequivocally demand the restoration of transport permits for Ukrainian drivers," Morawiecki told reporters.

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Meanwhile, Ukraine's border service said on Monday that the first 30 empty lorries had driven through a newly opened Uhryniv-Dolhobychuv crossing on the Ukrainian-Polish border. Kyiv hopes this will provide some relief, with Polish driver protests blocking other land corridors.

The waiting time on Monday at the Hrebenne crossing was 10 days, with around 900 trucks stuck in a 70-km queue, the Polish Press Agency reported. Meanwhile, around 520 trucks were waiting in another 16-km-long queue at the Dorohusk crossing, with a five-day clearance time, according to the police in Chelm, a city in southeastern Poland near the border with Ukraine.