Sofia Summiteers Face Sight of Truck Drivers' Protest

EU leaders arriving in Bulgaria's capital for the long-awaited EU-Western Balkans Summit on May 16-17 will be met by the sight of protesting truck drivers parking their lorries alongside the main Sofia-Tsarigradsko highway on Wednesday and Thursday.

Sofia Vice-Mayor Evgeni Krusev said on Tuesday the trucks would stay on the road linking the airport and the National Palace of Culture, the main stage of the summit, until 5pm on Thursday, as agreed with the authorities.

The strike is organized by transport associations, unhappy with the so-called "Mobility reform package" of the European Commission, pushed primarily by France's leader, Emmanuel Macron.

New rules may oblige Eastern European truck companies to pay drivers similar wages to Western European countries, where wages in the sector are higher.

They will also oblige drivers to stop after a maximum of 45 hours' work a week, either in a hotel or back home, forbidding sleepovers in the trucks.

The Commission claims this will put drivers from around Europe on an equal footing, but Eastern European companies claim it will ruin their key competitive advantage.

The passage of the two directives forms part of the French President's EU reform agenda and he explicitly mentioned them in his 17 April Future of Europe speech in the European Parliament.

The topic first gained traction in Sofia last August, just before Macron's visit to the country. At the time, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said Bulgaria had no issues with the reform.

Over the weekend, however, Borissov held emergency phone conversations with both Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel about the new rules. Bulgaria's Transport Minister, Ivaylo Moskovski, on Sunday warned that the new rules might...

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