Hundreds of truck drivers continued to obstruct freight border crossings across several Balkan countries for a third day on Wednesday, January 28th—protesting European Union rules that limit the time they can spend in the bloc. Dozens of checkpoints in Bosnia, Montenegro, and North Macedonia have been targeted, while Serbian drivers have shut both Schengen entry and exit points, causing long queues of trucks.
At Bajakovo, Croatia’s main crossing with Serbia, trucks waiting to leave the Schengen area stretched for around two kilometres (1.2 miles) on Wednesday morning, according to border police. Marko Čadež, president of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce (CCIS), warned that “Western Balkan economies are losing around €100 million ($119 million) a day in goods exports” due to bureaucratic delays and a slow EU response.
Organiser Neđo Mandić from the Association of Transport Operators of Serbia said that drivers “have no moral right to go somewhere where they could be arrested” and that they do not want them standing idle. Nine Serbian drivers have reportedly been detained in Germany in the past week for breaching the EU rule limiting non-EU citizens to 90 days in the bloc within a 180-day period.
The protests follow the EU’s rollout of its long-delayed Entry/Exit System (EES), which replaces passport stamps with digital registration and enforces the 90-day rule more rigorously. Mandić said that a guarantee of no arrests and a call for talks are required before the blockades can end.
A European Commission spokesperson said Brussels is “aware of concerns raised by Western Balkan transport operators” and is “following the situation closely.”
