Skopje, 30 June 2022 – The Polish Road Transport Inspectorate, the Embassy of Poland in Skopje, and the Transport Community Permanent Secretariat are organising a three-day workshop on roadside checks.
The training consists of theoretical part covering the EU acquis on tachographs and technical conditions of vehicles, and the practical part during which the Polish Road Transport Inspectorate demonstrated the roadside check in Petrovec in North Macedonia. This workshop is the second one in a row organised for regional partners from Albania, Kosovo[1]*, and North Macedonia, after a successful event in Serbia in December 2021, for Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“Roadside inspections allow us to identify and remove from traffic the vehicles that are malfunctioning, detect drivers and operators who do not possess the appropriate qualifications and documentation. To prevent these issues, there is a need for strengthening the capacities and knowledge of the inspectorates. Appropriate inspections in line with the EU standards and requirements save lives. While striving for “Vision Zero”, the regional partners must take systemic approach to road safety to ensure that trucks and buses are safe, and they do not endanger lives of passengers, drivers, and other road users,” Ms Ljupka Siljanoska, Deputy Director of the Transport Community Permanent Secretariat stated at yesterday’s opening ceremony in Skopje.
“We need a holistic approach to road safety, as well as to transpose and implement EU acquis related to this important sector. The Polish inspection team will provide a very valuable training related to the EU legislation and I would like to thank them for their effort, hard work, and excellent cooperation. Now all regional partners need to make further efforts to transpose the necessary legislation and implement it,” Siljanoska said.
All six regional partners from the Western Balkans were encouraged to make the maximum use of available EU funds and instruments (IPA, Twinning, TAIEX) to their advantage. The next enforcement workshop will be organised in Romania in September.
[1] This designation is without prejudice to positions on status and is in line with UNSCR 1244 (1999) and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.
