WESTERN BALKAN TRUCK OPERATORS THREATEN NEW EU BORDER BLOCKADE OVER SCHENGEN 90-DAY RULE
Road transport operators from four Western Balkan countries are preparing to block road freight crossings with the EU from 14 September 2026, unless a solution is found to the Schengen 90/180-day rule for professional truck drivers. CLECAT has been informed that negotiations on the application of the EU Entry/Exit System (EES) to truck drivers have so far failed. Operators from Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia are expected to participate in the coordinated action, with Albanian associations potentially joining.
The dispute concerns the Schengen rule limiting non-EU nationals to stays of 90 days within any 180-day period. For Western Balkan truck drivers, days spent in the Schengen area while performing international transport operations count towards this limit, potentially preventing them from continuing to work once the threshold has been reached. More systematic registration of entries and exits under the EES has brought the issue into sharper focus.
The planned action follows similar protests in January, when truck drivers from the four countries blocked freight terminals at EU borders. Reuters reported that more than 100 drivers had been deported in 2025 for exceeding the 90-day limit, while around another 100 were facing deportation. The protests prompted the European Commission to acknowledge the particular situation of highly mobile professionals, including truck drivers, in its new Visa Strategy and to consider possible solutions for those needing to spend more than 90 days in the EU for professional purposes. However, transport operators argue that no concrete solution has followed. The January blockades affected around 93% of exports from the four countries, according to Reuters.
According to the letter received by CLECAT, a recent meeting with European Commission representatives was cancelled, although another meeting could take place on 1 September. If this fails to deliver a solution, the blockade is expected to start on 14 September and continue until an agreement is reached.
A prolonged blockade could cause significant disruption to EU-Western Balkan trade and transit flows, affecting not only regional transport operators and exporters but also EU companies with production and supply chains in the region.