Polish farmers threaten to resume blocking the border with Ukraine

Polish farmers who have been blocking the Ukrainian-Polish border threaten to resume their protest action soon if they do not receive written assurances from the Polish government that their demands will be met.

Viktor Shmulevych, the head of the National Council of Agrarian Chambers of Poland, said this in a commentary to the Polish TV channel TVP Info.

“The Minister of Agriculture of Poland, after consultation with the government, must meet the demands of the farmers who suspended the protest on the Polish-Ukrainian border on Christmas Eve. The resumption of their activities depends on a written statement on the fulfillment of their basic requirements,” the Polish figure said.

The picketers, affiliated with the Oszukanej Wsi movement, are demanding the abolition of the agricultural tax increase, easier access to soft loans, and subsidies for corn cultivation.

As reported, Polish Agriculture Minister Czeslaw Sekerski said in an interview with TVP Info on Tuesday that work in this direction continues.

“I was at the border, where I talked to the protesters. But legislative decisions are needed to prepare solutions. We are waiting for the EU to agree to subsidize corn. We want to preserve low-interest loans. We also want local governments to be able to exempt farmers from agricultural tax increases,” the minister said.

Commenting on the protesters’ demand to regulate the terms of food imports from Ukraine, Sekerski explained that this requires a trilateral agreement between Warsaw, Kyiv and Brussels.

“Until it is lifted, the embargo on grain imports will remain in place. We have to keep the embargo in place until the conditions that would replace this situation are determined, i.e. limiting the volume of possible inflow of specific agricultural goods. There is some experience that Ukraine has already gained in its relations with Romania and Bulgaria when it comes to restrictions. This will allow us to control these processes,” the Minister added.

As a reminder, on November 6, Polish carriers went on strike and blocked truck traffic across the Ukrainian-Polish border. In particular, the movement of freight transport in the direction of the three largest checkpoints “Korchova-Krakivets”, “Hrebenne-Rava Ruska”, “Dorohusk-Yagodyn” was blocked. Later, on November 23, the carriers blocked the Medyka-Shehyni checkpoint.

The protesters are demanding a ban on the registration of transport companies with foreign capital in Poland, which is driving Polish entrepreneurs out of the market. They are also demanding the restoration of entry permits to the European Union for Ukrainian carriers and improved border services. The action of Polish carriers was planned to last for two months, until the end of the year.

On the evening of December 22, it became known that representatives of the Polish and Ukrainian Ministries of Infrastructure had agreed on an action plan to unblock the border.

Tags: Poland, protests