Social Democrat Olaf Scholes, who won elections in Germany and could become the next German president, said Monday that the fuel crisis in the UK was linked to the end of the independence movement brought about by “Brexit”.
“The right to free movement of workers is part of the European Union. We worked hard to convince the British not to leave the union,” said the finance minister of the coalition government led by President Angela Merkel. “They made a different decision and I hope they can deal with the issues that arise.”
The leader of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD), who won Sunday’s election and will now try to negotiate with the ruling coalition, has promised that everyone will be committed to this “important idea” of achieving “good relations between the European Union and the United Kingdom”. However, this is a “problem to be solved”.
Many member states, including Germany, have struggled with the lack of drivers of heavy vehicles to carry goods, however, unlike in the United Kingdom, EU companies have been able to help fill the gaps for citizens of neighboring countries.
The British fuel crisis is on the rise and this Monday fuels hit the highest prices in the last eight years, while they began to turn into shortages at service stations. In supermarkets, empty shelves also began to be noticed.
Authorities have called for peace and hope the fuel suppliers will return to normal “in the next few days.” Meanwhile, the army was eventually put on standby to help with supplies, but the government did not approve of military personnel driving trucks.
With the shortage issues, the impact of “Brexit” returned to the center of the debate. According to Transport Intelligence, “Brexit” was “legally impossible to hire foreign truck drivers” and the epidemic led to the exit of many Eastern European drivers from the UK.
The number of EU truck drivers working in the UK increased from 10,000 to 45,000 from 2010 to 2017. By the beginning of 2020, that number had dropped to 42,000. From March to June last year, the number dropped to 25,000, and by the end of the year it had recovered slightly to 28,000.
