7 April 2026, morning. On the M7 motorway in County Kildare, Ireland, a column of hundreds of lorries, tractors, buses and private cars crawls forward. The same scene is repeated on the M4, the M8 in Offaly, the M3 in Meath and the M6 towards Galway. Shortly before 11:00, a large convoy reaches O’Connell Street in Dublin. An Garda Síochána, the Irish national police, reports “significant disruption” in the country’s main cities: Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick. The movement, rallying under the slogan “The People of Ireland Against Fuel Prices”, is calling for a cap on fuel prices and a reduction in excise duties for haulage and agriculture. Organisers point to diesel prices forecast to reach up to €2.30 per litre in the following days, as a direct consequence of the ongoing conflict in Iran.
Ireland is not an isolated case. Since late January 2026, a wave of protests has spread across European road haulage with a speed and consistency not seen for years. Two reinforcing factors lie behind it: rising diesel costs, driven higher by the Middle East crisis, and tighter EU border rules affecting carriers from the Western Balkans. The result is a tense April, affecting at least five key regions of the continent and putting pressure on supply chains, national governments and European institutions.
High fuel costs are the most widespread cause. Diesel has consistently exceeded €2 per litre on Italy’s urban network, with peaks of €2.11 on motorways. Even higher levels have been recorded in France, where some areas report prices of up to €2.50 per litre, and in the Netherlands, where the symbolic threshold is set at €2.30. Several energy sector analyses describe this phase as a diesel crisis more severe than the oil shocks of 1973 and 1979, with tangible risks of shortages and rationing in Europe.
In Italy, trade associations describe an unsustainable situation: freight rates remain stagnant while operating costs continue to rise. The temporary excise duty cut introduced by the government—around 25 cents per litre—has effectively been absorbed by price increases, leaving pump prices at record levels. Trasportounito has called a national haulage strike from 20 to 25 April, describing an “absolute emergency”. Unatras has announced permanent assemblies and demonstrations in around one hundred cities, describing the sector as “at breaking point”, and has convened its executive council to consider possible strike action.
In France, mobilisation preceded Italy’s by several weeks. Between 29 and 30 March, hauliers—and in some areas farmers and other road operators—staged so-called “snail operations” on the Paris Périphérique and on the main routes into the capital. The tactic, involving slow-moving convoys that create congestion without formally blocking traffic, was chosen to maximise visibility while limiting the risk of clashes with law enforcement. Actions continued in the following days on other national routes.
In the Netherlands, the “Enough: €2.30!” mobilisation took shape on 2 April, organised from the ground up by small firms and owner-drivers. Actions focused on major roads and logistics hubs, with slow-moving industrial vehicle convoys and pickets. The slogan points to the price threshold deemed unsustainable for diesel, reflecting the sector’s perception of costs that are eroding the already thin margins of smaller operators.
The Balkan front has a different, more structural character. On 26 January 2026, more than 20 border crossings between the EU and the Western Balkans—between Serbia and Hungary, Serbia and Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, and other entry points into the Schengen area—were blocked by around 75,000 lorries. The protest targeted the launch of the Entry/Exit System (EES) and the full enforcement of the 90-days-in-180 rule for non-EU drivers. The blockades, coordinated by the main national road haulage associations in the countries involved, led to queues with waiting times of up to 48–72 hours. Only essential goods—medicines, live animals, emergency shipments, military transport and dangerous goods—were guaranteed passage.
With the EES fully operational, the tracking of days spent in the Schengen area turns the 90/180 rule into a concrete operational constraint for non-EU drivers who frequently cross borders for work. Balkan associations argue that lorry drivers are being treated as tourists rather than workers with a specific professional mobility regime, risking entry refusals, penalties and, in extreme cases, deportation. Blockades continued in waves between February and March, with further actions announced at borders on 23 March. Between 1 and 9 April, waiting times at crossings persisted, with hauliers threatening to continue until adjustments are made to EES rules and the management of permitted stay periods.
The impact on the logistics chain has been immediate and significant. The Balkan blockades are slowing freight traffic between the EU, Turkey and the Middle East, affecting delivery times and vehicle availability along east–west corridors. Italy and other Member States are among the most exposed, as a substantial share of flows to and from Turkey and the Middle East transits through the Balkan corridors. This is compounded by actions in France, the Netherlands and Ireland, increasing congestion on routes linking to Northern European ports and corridors with the United Kingdom.
Demands from hauliers across different countries converge on several points: structural measures on fuel prices rather than temporary relief, and, where applicable, exemptions or adjustments to EES/90-180 rules for non-EU professional drivers. In Italy, associations are also calling for mandatory alignment of freight rates with real costs, a measure the sector has sought for years. National government responses are widely seen as insufficient: excise cuts are described as “temporary” and “absorbed by increases”, while tax credits are labelled “limited”.
European institutions, for their part, are under pressure to consider exemptions to EES and 90/180 rules for professional drivers in order to avoid structural bottlenecks at the EU’s eastern borders. Several industry associations warn that April’s actions could be only a prelude to wider mobilisation if structural responses are not delivered, both on fuel costs and on entry rules for transport workers in the Schengen area.
Michele Latorre
