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Transporters in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and North Macedonia protested outside EU delegations on Monday, pressing Brussels for a fix to rules that cap professional drivers' time in the Schengen area, ahead of a meeting in the Belgian capital set for Tuesday.
Demonstrations unfolded simultaneously in Sarajevo, Belgrade, Podgorica and Skopje, according to local media reports, as freight and logistics associations from the four Western Balkan countries stepped up pressure on the European Union to exempt professional drivers from the bloc's standard short-stay rules.
At the center of the dispute is the Schengen area's 90/180-day rule, a long-standing EU policy that limits citizens of non-EU countries to a maximum of 90 days of stay within any 180-day period.
The rule was designed primarily to regulate tourism and short-term visits, but transporters say it does not account for professional drivers who cross in and out of the Schengen zone repeatedly as part of their jobs, often coming close to or exceeding the limit through the accumulation of short, frequent trips.
In Sarajevo, demonstrators gathered near the Bosnian parliament before marching to the EU delegation. Nikola Brkovic, representing the Logistics Consortium of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said protesters were asking that drivers from the region be treated differently than tourists or migrants because their entries into the Schengen area are tied to work, not leisure or relocation.
In Belgrade, transporters assembled outside the EU delegation and delivered a letter formally requesting that the restrictions be reconsidered. Dusan Nikolic of Serbia's International Transport Association said the industry was prepared to escalate, warning that further protests could take place at border crossings on Sept. 14 if the issue remains unresolved.
A similar warning came from Podgorica, where Transporters Association President Dordije Ljesnjak said the demonstration was meant to keep the issue on the radar of Schengen member states as they prepare to discuss it. "This is not a protest against the EU, but a protest for a solution, for the right of professional drivers to work and for the survival of Montenegrin transport companies," Ljesnjak said.
In Skopje, drivers organized by the Makam-Trans association protested outside the EU delegation. The group's secretary general, Biljana Muratovska, said transporters had been waiting seven months for a resolution and urged that the matter be formally placed on the agenda in Brussels.
North Macedonia's Transport Minister Aleksandar Nikolloski said his government was pursuing bilateral agreements with individual Schengen countries as a workaround. He said Skopje had already reached agreements with Switzerland, Croatia and Romania, and that talks were planned with Austria, Slovenia and Germany.
Transporters across all four countries reiterated that they could stage coordinated protests at EU border crossings on Sept. 14 if Tuesday's meeting in Brussels does not produce progress.
The dispute is not new: Western Balkan transporters first protested in January over how the Schengen stay rules were being enforced against professional drivers, prompting the European Commission to say at the time that it would look into the concerns raised. Monday's demonstrations suggest that, seven months later, the industry considers the issue still unresolved.
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