site.btaUPDATED Farmers Block Ivaylovgrad–Kyprinos Crossing on Border with Greece over Truck Restrictions

The Ivaylovgrad–Kyprinos border crossing between Bulgaria and Greece was closed to traffic on Sunday due to a protest by farmers demanding that trucks weighing more than 3.5 tonnes be allowed to use the crossing.

Traffic was blocked as part of a coordinated protest announced in advance by the Ivaylovgrad Municipality on its official website.

Protesters blocked the road with heavy agricultural machinery at around 9:30 a.m. pn Sunday. Their main demand is that the former border checkpoint be opened to freight vehicles with a maximum permissible weight exceeding 3.5 tonnes. It was the second protest over the issue within the past week.

The organizer of the demonstration, farmer Hristo Parasarev, who cultivates about 80 hectares of wheat, sunflower, flax and other crops, as well as vineyards, said the current restriction is hampering sales of agricultural produce on the Greek market at the height of the harvest season.

According to Parasarev, the restriction remains in force under a 2007 bilateral agreement between Bulgaria and Greece regulating traffic through the crossing, as explained by the Road Infrastructure Agency.

"Our main demand is for Ivaylovgrad to finally become a real part of the Schengen area. We insist that the road signs banning trucks over 3.5 tonnes from using the former Ivaylovgrad–Kyprinos border crossing be removed so that we can freely sell our agricultural produce in neighbouring Greece," he said.

Parasarev noted that Greek purchasing depots are only about a 10-minute drive from the border, whereas transporting produce to warehouses in Bulgaria takes almost an entire day. He argued that using vehicles with a maximum weight of 3.5 tonnes is not economically viable because they can carry only between 800 kg and 1.5 tonnes of produce.

"I would rather lose two or three euro cents per kilogram than lose five or six cents and spend an entire day driving to the Bulgarian towns of Lyubimets or Harmanli to sell my produce," he said.

He added that, in the protesters' view, Bulgaria's accession to the Schengen area has removed any justification for maintaining the weight restriction. According to him, a procedure has already been launched to change the status of the border crossing so that freight vehicles will also be allowed to pass.

"We have exhausted all the other legal options," Parasarev said, noting that several petitions had been submitted over the past year without success.

Farmer Georgi Chobanov, who cultivates around 200 hectares of wheat, also joined the blockade. He said transport costs alone account for roughly half of farmers' overall expenses because they have to travel more than 60 extra kilometres to deliver grain to the nearest warehouses in Harmanli or Lyubimets.

Chobanov dismissed concerns that allowing heavy trucks to use the crossing would damage the road, arguing that heavy agricultural machinery already travels daily on the same route to nearby farmland.

Meanwhile, the Road Infrastructure Agency said on its official website that when the Ivaylovgrad–Kyprinos crossing became operational, Bulgaria and Greece agreed that only vehicles up to three metres wide, with a payload of up to 3.5 tonnes, and buses carrying up to 50 passengers would be permitted to cross. As a result, traffic signs restricting vehicles over 3.5 tonnes were installed on the II-59 Ivaylovgrad–Slaveevo–Greek border road nearly 18 years ago. 

Progressive Bulgaria MP Svetlana Mitosheva came to see the protesting farmers later in the day. She said the Health Ministry had expressed readiness to initiate, through the Foreign Ministry, talks with Greece on revising the 2007 bilateral agreement that limits traffic through the Ivaylovgrad–Kyprinos crossing to vehicles weighing up to 3.5 tonnes. She said the current rules no longer reflect Bulgaria's accession to the Schengen area and also hamper emergency medical transport, as ambulances could reach the hospital in Svilengrad more quickly via Greece. Mitosheva voiced support for the farmers' demands and said she had also sought the position of the Regional Development Ministry on the issue.

Traffic through the border crossing will remain restricted until 10 p.m. on Sunday. The Ivaylovgrad Municipality has advised motorists and transport companies to plan alternative routes, although the protest organizers said vehicles would be allowed to pass at intervals.

On Monday, Bulgarian farmers blocked the border crossing three times, as they demanded that vehicles over 3.5 tons be allowed through.