site.bta Bulgarian Road Hauliers Theaten to Stop Import of Greek Goods, Seal Border During Summer Season Unless Lasting Solution Is Found for Border Blockades

Bulgarian Road Hauliers Theaten to Stop Import of  Greek Goods, Seal Border During Summer Season Unless Lasting Solution Is Found for Border Blockades

Sofia, February 24 (BTA) - Bulgarian road hauliers threaten to halt the import of Greek products to Bulgaria unless a lasting solution is found by Monday to the situation caused by the frequent border blockades by Greek farmers protesting against the government austerity plans. The warning came Wednesday at a news conference held by the Bulgarian Union of Associations in the Automobile Transport (BUAAT) in the presence of Transport Minister Ivaylo Moskovski, Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov and representatives of the road haulage business. They discussed the situation on the border and the Greek farmers' blockades which have continued, on and off, for over a month now.

BUAAT chairman Mirolyub Stolarski said that the import of Greek fruit and vegetables will be blocked via the Macedonian routes and merchants should feel forewarned about this.

Moskovski said that some 60 per cent of the import of fruit and vegetables in Bulgaria comes from Greece. Road hauliers are determined to also block the border during the upcoming spring holidays, including Easter. No tourist buses will be allowed to cross the border in either direction between April 30 and May 8, and during the peak of the holiday season beetween July 15 to August 28.

"We will do it their way: leave the border open for five hours every 24 hours and seal it the rest of the time during the holidays. Maybe then the Greek farmers will understand what it is like to make a loss and not be compensated for it. I believe that in this way we will minimize the collateral damage to other people," Stolarski said.

The Transport Minister said that more than once the Bulgarian side urged Greek farmers to close the Athens airport, for example, or the ports: in this way their voice would have sounded louder, in Europe through Italy. "But they have this fixation about the Bulgarian border and we get the brunt of it. It is a purely domestic issue and all the damage goes to the Bulgarian border," Moskovski said. 

Moskovski and Mitov said that they would insist before the European Commission that new rules be set in place for dealing with such situations: after seven years of notifications by Bulgaria to the Commission about situations similar to the current one, this country has received no reply and no compensations.

Mitov said that an attempt is being made to undermine the excellent relations of goodneighbourliness which have been built between Bulgaria and Greece in the course of 25 years.

On February 23, the Greek farmers closed the busy Kulata-Promachonas border crossing with no prior notice. No trucks were allowed to cross and waiting vehicles formed a 10-km line - until 14:15 hrs on February 24 when the border was reopened. The nearby Ilinden crossing is still closed, in both directions. Traffic through the remaining crossings on the Bulgarian-Greek border is normal.