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Hungary has refused to give Ukraine a package of 45,000 permits requested by the Ukrainian side for international freight transportation, the Ukrainian Infrastructure Ministry's the press service reported.
Quotas for permits for freight transportation to Hungary in 2016 haven't been agreed yet, the press service said.
"The Hungarian side proposes exchanging only 6,500 permits for the first quarter of 2016, which doesn't suit the Ukrainian side, as this is a considerably lower number than Ukrainian carriers need. The Infrastructure Ministry jointly with the National Association of International Road Transport Carriers insist on establishing permit quotas in 2016 at the level of 2014, namely, with the total number of 45,250 permits for each of the parties, including 20,000 bilateral permits, 21,000 transit ones, 2,750 permits to/from third countries and 1,500 permits for non-scheduled passenger transportation," the ministry said in its statement.
As a compromise, the Hungarian side was offered to exchange 25,000 free transit permits for each of the parties. However, none of the options was accepted by Hungary, according to the Infrastructure Ministry.
It is also noted, next year Hungary plans to significantly reduce the number of transportation permits for all carriers (not only from Ukraine), as well as to introduce additional transportation tax and significantly restrict the movement of trucks of lower environmental categories.
It is noted that the Ukrainian government had been asked to interfere in handling the situation, and the Infrastructure Ministry officials were expected to meet European Commission representatives to discuss the issue.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the Ukrainian Infrastructure Ministry previously announced the liberalization of international cargo transportation between Ukraine and Switzerland.
On December 17, the ministry approved the distribution among Ukrainian carriers of permits granted by the European Conference of Ministers of Transport for carrying out international road cargo transportation in 2016.
In early 2015, the Infrastructure Ministry canceled the cargo permit provisions and posted information on the remaining one-time permits for international cargo transportation on the Ukrtransinspektsiya Ukrainian transport safety inspectorate's website.