Poland’s actions raise questions about Ukraine’s EU membership prospects

The blockade of Polish carriers on the border with Ukraine leads to downtime of trucks with Ukrainian grain and additional losses for producers.

This opinion was expressed by Denys Marchuk, Deputy Chairman of the Ukrainian Agrarian Council (Vseukrainska Agrarna Rada – VAR).

“When the import bans by European countries began, farmers lost tens of millions of dollars. Ukrainian producers found alternative markets in the EU and started to supply grain there without selling it in Poland. Now, Polish carriers have come up with another blockade in the form of a ban on the movement of trucks transporting grain and value-added products. Such delays at the border will have a negative impact on the solvency of commodity producers,” the VAR press service quoted him as saying.

Such actions of Poland call into question the announced course of Ukraine’s European integration, the expert believes.

“Poland’s actions raise questions about the prospects of Ukraine’s membership in the EU. Everything seems to be agreed upon, Ukraine is moving towards Europe, but the situation is that EU members are obstructing future EU members. The blockade of Polish carriers hurts other European partners who are waiting for Ukrainian products, as Italy and Germany, for example, are interested in supplies from Ukraine.

So, of course, we need to resolve the conflict at the EU level. Alternatively, we could return to the issue of European intervention. Otherwise, Ukraine will plunge into another logistics crisis. The Black Sea is not fully operational, while land routes and river ports remain the key destinations for Ukrainian exports,” summarized the Deputy Chairman of the VAR.

Tags: EU, Poland, Ukraine