Professional drivers from Bosnia and Herzegovina are increasingly facing being turned back from border crossings to Croatia due to the consistent application of the Schengen rule of a permitted stay of 90 days within a 180-day period.
Transporters warn that the problems could further intensify during August and September and are asking the competent institutions to urgently find a solution.
At the Gradiška border crossing, drivers point out that they are already trying to adapt to the rules, but they believe that this is not sustainable in the long term. Professional driver Amer Halilović says that he has not had any problems with the “90 in 180 days” rule so far, but warns that the current way of working is not a solution.
“Now they are looking at spending as many weekends at home as possible in order to reduce the number of days spent in the European Union. I don’t think that will work either. Something will have to be solved. Either visas or some other system. They won’t be able to continue like this. Everyone will go to Europe to drive,” said Halilović.
Drivers are convinced that the real problems are yet to come. According to the carriers, the introduction of the EES system in April this year has canceled the previous record of days spent in the European Union, which could have consequences as early as early September.
Member of the BiH Logistics Consortium Mirko Ivanović warned that the most difficult period is yet to come.
“On September 10, we expect to enter that reset period where those six months expire, so we expect that huge problems will already start there,” said Ivanović.
Meanwhile, the Croatian Parliament adopted amendments to the Law on Foreigners in May that introduce one-year D visas for professional drivers from Bosnia and Herzegovina. This would exempt drivers from the restrictions imposed by the 90/180-day rule, but it is not yet known when the system will come into effect in practice.
The Ministry of Communications and Transport of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced that it has proposed a temporary operational solution to the European Commission that would allow professional drivers from BiH to recalculate the permitted days of stay in the European Union member states until the D visa issuance system is established.
According to estimates from the transport sector, a permanent solution could only be in place at the beginning of next year. Until then, transport companies are forced to find temporary solutions, while warning that the consequences are already being felt by the entire economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina. If the situation does not change, during August and September there could be even more frequent returns of professional drivers from the European Union border, BHRT writes.
