"Today, we are standing together with the leaders of the transport industry, with people running a business," Krzysztof Bosak, a Confederation leader, said at the conference, stressing his party's support for Polish businesses.
Albert Zawada/PAP
A leader of the far-right Confederation party has said his party will support a protest by Polish road hauliers on the Ukrainian border, planned for November 6.
During a press conference in the Sejm, the lower house of the Polish parliament, on Friday, representatives of the transport industry announced a continuation of their protest from March this year.
Polish truckers have accused their Ukrainian peers of unfair competition that is hurting their business. In 2022, the EU eased regulations for Ukrainian transport companies to help the country combat the Russian invasion, but this has undercut local businesses.
The protest will take place on November 6 due to what the Polish haulage companies see as the failure of the government to provide sufficient support in their dispute, and this time it will be supported by the Confederation party.
“Today, we are standing together with the leaders of the transport industry, with people running a business,” Krzysztof Bosak, a Confederation leader, said at the conference, stressing his party’s support for Polish businesses.
“The protest is being re-launched, due to the failure of the government to meet the industry’s expectations,” Bosak continued.
“We will support the protest by the Polish hauliers,” he said.
Rafal Mekler, a Confederation member and an entrepreneur, said: “All these people are affected by the messianic eastern policy of PiS (Law and Justice, the ruling party – PAP), which would give away their last shirt at our expense.”
According to Bosak, the Polish transport industry has been damaged by the EU and by the current and previous governments, and now also by the unfair competition from Belarusian, Ukrainian and Russian truckers, whom he believes are being favoured by the current legislation.
The recent “difficult situation”, as Bosak called it, has been aggravated by the war in Ukraine and sanctions put on Belarus and Russia, which have restricted access to those countries for Polish hauliers and paved the way for fraud.