The European Shippers’ Council (ESC) calls on the European Commission to take urgent action to address severe and ongoing border disruptions in several EU accession candidate countries in the Western Balkans. These disruptions are currently obstructing truck transport along key corridors linking the region with the European Union, causing significant delays and increased costs for European supply chains.
The affected routes form part of the extended Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), whose uninterrupted functioning is essential for efficient and resilient trade flows between the EU and its key partners, including Turkey. ESC warns that prolonged blockages are already undermining just-in-time logistics, harming critical European industries, and preventing EU producers from delivering goods to customers on time, with serious consequences for competitiveness and contractual reliability.
While recognising the fundamental right to demonstrate, ESC stresses that prolonged and disproportionate obstruction of cross-border transport is incompatible with EU principles, enlargement commitments, and the obligations undertaken by accession candidates under the Stabilisation and Association Agreements. ESC therefore urges the European Commission to engage swiftly with the authorities concerned and to use all appropriate instruments within the enlargement framework to safeguard the free movement of goods and ensure the proper functioning of key TEN-T corridors.