Representatives of the associations of international road freight transporters from Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina today announced a protest at border crossings with neighboring Schengen countries on January 26, due to the limitation of the duration of stay of professional drivers in the countries of that area to a maximum of 90 days in a six-month period.
The associations announced that the protest will continue until the problem is resolved.
The aim of the protest, as they said at the press conference, is to point out the long-term consequences that the economy of not only countries not covered by the agreement, but also EU countries that are signatories to the agreement will suffer when the new Entry/Exit (EES) 90/180 rule, which was introduced in early October 2025, begins to be strictly applied from April 10 of this year.
Neđo Mandić from the Association of Transporters of Serbia said that "the consequences of this norm have not yet escalated, but they will be catastrophic for the economy and the population, when the trial period expires on April 10th and consistent implementation begins."
"We have been warning for years about the consequences of the Schengen area approaching our borders. When the implementation of the EES norm began, more frequent controls began, but those we warned about the consequences did not lift a finger, they responded to our letters that they had no problem with transportation," said Mandić.
He added that most large companies have parent companies in the EU and that transport associations are confident that they have the ability to protect their interests with the European Commission (EC).
He recalled that the Schengen Agreement on the free movement of goods and capital was signed in 1985 and that the number of countries increased from five to 29 and "the agreement reached the borders of the countries in the Balkans."
"The idea that the Schengen Agreement would facilitate the movement of goods and capital has become self-contradictory and now makes the work of transport companies more difficult because it equates professional drivers with all other passengers and the length of their stay in those countries," said Mandić.
He pointed out that "the time has come to amend the Schengen Agreement" and "transport companies propose that the EC and experts find a solution by the end of March this year, and that until then professional drivers be treated as cross-border workers who are not subject to registration and EES norms."
He added that under the new rule, professional drivers can effectively use ten days per month out of the 90 days allowed for stay in Schengen countries, because every exit, even one minute after 12 noon, is treated as a full day.
In addition, as he said, drivers must respect the rest period while driving, and they also lose time waiting at borders, so they can effectively only work about ten days in a month.
He warned that if companies from countries outside the Schengen Agreement are prevented from driving in those countries, their companies will not come to the Balkans due to congestion at the borders, and the price of transportation would also be higher.
He stated that 20.000 trucks and around 30.000 drivers are registered for international transport in Serbia and that this rule is not being applied literally. At the border, depending on the will of the officers, some are let through despite exceeding the 90-day stay in Schengen, but recently a driver returning from Norway had his truck confiscated and was deported to Serbia by plane.
"Our drivers are not migrants or terrorists, so we demand that those who have the correct documentation - passport, vehicle and goods documents - can enter the Schengen Agreement countries and that their right to work is not restricted," said Mandić, adding that they have the support of Turkish transport companies.
He pointed out that the Serbian Government, as well as the drivers' associations, have tried to solve this problem, but neither have had success with the Brussels administration.
The representative of the Association of International Freight Forwarders of Montenegro, Đorđije Lješnjak, said that the association joined the protest of transporters from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina because they were addressing their government, which responded that this problem does not exist for Montenegro, as the country is approaching EU accession.
"Until we join the EU, there will be no international transport in Montenegro. The government is trying to reduce this problem by signing bilateral agreements, such as with Germany, which has recognized our driving licenses, and thus enable our drivers to move to Germany and for workers from the Middle East to be imported to Montenegro," said Lješnjak.
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