After the Lithuanian government decided on Wednesday to open the border with Belarus earlier than planned, the president of the National Association of Road Carriers Linava expressed satisfaction with this decision and stated that the most important thing now is to ensure the unhindered return of Lithuanian trucks home.
"It's a great decision, we are very pleased with it (...). Common sense has prevailed, we are correcting past mistakes and are very happy that the border crossings will open earlier than planned," said the president of the association, Erlandas Mikėnas, to the BNS agency.
"Right now, we are already thinking about how to organize customs work to make it faster, because if customs operates the same way as it did before the border closure, our trucks will not cross the border until the New Year," he added.
According to Mikėnas, as far as he knows, Belarus will have to pay the fee it established on November 10, amounting to 120 euros for the daily parking of Lithuanian vehicles in the parking lots designated by Minsk. He also mentioned that a fee will be charged for their delivery to the designated parking lots at the border with Lithuania.
After Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė's statement on Wednesday that the government is not considering the possibility of compensating carriers' losses, the president of Linava stated that the association is not currently making such a demand and everything will depend on how quickly the trucks return to Lithuania.
"I have heard thoughts from some carriers (about compensation for losses – BNS), but first we want to return to Lithuania, and then we will decide," said Mikėnas.
On Wednesday, the Cabinet of Ministers decided to open the border with Belarus 10 days earlier than planned. The operation of the border crossing points "Medininkai" and "Šalčininkai" will resume on Thursday.
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