Brussels deadline passes, truckers still get 90 days
The deadline Western Balkan hauliers gave the European Commission passed without a response. Truck drivers remain capped at 90 days, and associations from four countries meet on August 11.
Truck drivers from Serbia can still spend no more than 90 days out of every 180 in the Schengen zone, because the European Commission never answered the deadline hauliers gave it, which expired on August 10. Nedjo Mandic, president of the Association of International Road Hauliers of Serbia, says there is still no solution for lifting the limit.
The deadline was not an arbitrary date. It was set at the last meeting of Western Balkan hauliers as the point by which the Commission was expected to say how it intended to resolve the status of professional drivers in international transport. No answer came, so associations from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and North Macedonia are meeting on August 11 in North Macedonia to decide their next move.
What the 90/180 rule means for one driver
The limit was introduced to control uncontrolled migration, and it treats a professional driver the same way it treats a tourist on holiday. The math that follows is simple: 90 days out of 180 averages to fifteen days a month. A driver on regular routes to Western Europe burns through the quota before the six month window closes, and the company is left without anyone allowed to cross the border, while the truck and its cargo sit and wait.
The Schengen zone is not the same as the European Union, and that makes the problem wider than it first looks. Besides EU member states, it also covers Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican, so days get used up even on routes that have nothing directly to do with the customs territory of the Union.
Since the rule started being enforced more strictly in October 2025, a driver who has used up the quota faces three consequences:
- deportation from whichever country the check happens in
- the truck being held
- a ban on entering Croatia, Hungary and Romania until the six month window shifts
The last point hits hardest, because those three countries are not a destination but a gateway. Almost all road freight from Serbia to the west passes through them, so a driver who has run out of days cannot even transit through.
The April 10 reset did not stop the deportations
In April, there appeared to be a way out. It was agreed that days spent in the Schengen zone up to April 10, 2026 would be wiped and the count would start over. Mandic says nothing has actually changed:
“Drivers who are caught in the Schengen zone are still being deported, and trucks are still being held, even after April 10 this year, when it was agreed that the days spent in the Schengen zone up to that date would be erased, zeroed out, and a new count would begin. Drivers who have used up their 90 day quota over the last six months still cannot enter Croatia, Hungary or Romania.”
The reset delayed the problem, it did not remove it. The rule looks back 180 days from the current date, so the window shifts every single day. By that math, around October 7, 2026, no day before the April wipe will still fall inside the window, and the effect of that measure will end on its own. Drivers who have been running at full pace since April will hit the ceiling again at that point.
A meeting is being arranged while the directors are on holiday
Associations from the four countries sent a letter to the European Union asking for a meeting with the relevant directorate, proposing Belgrade or Brussels as the venue. Mandic says the talks will likely be held online, and that such a format is not fit for a subject of this scale. The timing depends on the other side’s calendar: the three directors responsible at the EU Directorate for Mobility and Transport are on annual leave until August 12, so the conversation is not expected before that date.
Hauliers have already shown once how far they are willing to go. In late January 2026, hauliers from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina blocked freight terminals at border crossings for four days. The blockade stopped goods from moving, but it did not win an exemption.
Ten months have passed since the rule was introduced in October 2025. In that time, a terminal blockade, a counter reset and a letter to Brussels have all come and gone, and the status of drivers has not changed. The meeting in North Macedonia on August 11 will show whether the next step goes back to the border or stays at the negotiating table, and any answer from the Commission, if it comes at all, is unlikely to arrive before August 12.
