Bosnian truckers block two EU freight terminals over visa rules

GRADISKA: Bosnian truck drivers blocked two freight terminals on its border with EU member Croatia on Monday, protesting visa rules limiting their time in the bloc.
Since October, the EU has been rolling out its long-delayed Entry/Exit System (EES), which Balkan drivers call “discriminatory” because it subjects them to the same 90-days-in-180 rule as tourists.
“Our work has been made administratively impossible,” Hidajet Muratovic, one of the protest organizers, told AFP.
The rollout — due to come fully into force on April 10 — has led to stricter checks, with many drivers now being turned back at the border with Croatia, which joined the EU in 2013.
On Monday, truckers blocked two terminals on the Croatian border at Orasje and Svilaj, according to an official who asked not to be named.
“We will not give up until we receive concrete solutions, not just empty promises,” Muratovic said at Orasje.
At Gradiska, another major crossing, police prevented drivers from blocking the terminal, AFP witnessed.
In late January, hundreds of truck drivers from several Balkan countries staged days-long blockades at numerous terminals to protest the EES rollout.
The blockades in Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro and North Macedonia were lifted after talks were announced in Brussels, but those discussions have yet to produce a decision.
Truck drivers from Serbia decided to postpone new blockades until April 10, when the new rules are due to come fully into force.
Balkan economies were losing around 100 million euros ($115 million) a day in goods exports, the Serbian Chamber of Commerce said in January.
According to EU data, the bloc is the Balkans’ main trading partner, accounting for more than 60 percent of the region’s total trade, most of it carried by road.
Trade in goods between the EU and the Balkans exceeded 83 billion euros in 2024.
In Bosnia, 93 percent of trade goes by road.