ESC is supporting the International Road Transport Union (IRU) in their call for governments to compensate damages.
Many farmer protests across Europe have seriously disrupted logistics chains, blocking key routes, attacking trucks and destroying cargo, often with the police as a passive witness. The cost for drivers and transport firms is huge and growing. They need compensation.
Governments across Europe have often failed to ensure continuity of logistics chains and to protect drivers who are simply trying to do their job. As Raluca Marian, the Director EU Advocacy and General Delegate of the Permanent Delegation to the EU at IRU, commented, “Governments have a duty to ensure the free movement of goods and to guarantee the security of drivers and their cargo. The systemic breakdown in authority and order seen with these protests raise the legitimate claim of victims – transport operators – to compensation from governments for their losses. If governments do not fulfil their protective role, they need to pay for damages. Nobody else will. Transport operators now need simple and transparent processes to claim compensation.”
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