Several dozen of carriers and drivers gathered at Kulata Border Crossing (Bulgaria's border with Greece) on 29^th of May for the  protest readiness announced by the Union of Transport Workers. They insist on facilitating the border crossing of lorries, as they now have to wait for hours to cross into Greece, quoted by the BNT.

There will be no blockade at the border, as the protesters have reached an agreement with the representatives of the state, namely representatives of the Customs Agency, the border police and the disctrict governor of Blagoevgrad.

Representatives of the protesters spoke with the district governor of Blagoevgrad, Bisser Mihaylov, the head of the District Directorate of the Ministery of interior in Blagoevgrad, Nikolay Hadzhiev, the Director of the Regional Directorate of Smolyan Stoyan Mandadzhiev, the head of “Southwest customs house Georgi Alexandrov and representatives of other institutions.

After the talks, the two sides agreed that most of the drivers' demands would be met, namely that three lanes for TIR lorries would be operational at Kulata border crossing, as well as three weigh stations which would work at all times.

By 12^th of June, three lanes for freight vehicles are expected to become operational on the Greek side. Until then, the Greek authorities have assured that they will put police to guard the passage and lines of TIR lorries so that there are no overtakings and no incidents.

Another request made by the drivers is that each of the weighing scales has large screens to dislpay the results of the weighing in order to have greater transparency of the checks carried out by the Customs Agency.

The Custom Agency officials said they would seek solution to that, as well as funding for the installation of such screens.

There are no queues of heavy goods vehicles at Kulata border crossing at the moment. Drivers have said they will also insist on legislative changes for TIR lorries which are not carrying goods to not go through the weighing scales.

They said that if their demands were not met, the protests will go on.

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