Farmers in Poland staged a massive protest across the country on Wednesday to protest against the influx of agricultural goods from Ukraine.
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Farmers brought tractors and other equipment onto the country’s roads. Convoys of farmers’ transport are obstructing traffic in at least 150 points across the country.
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However, there was no information about road blocking in Warsaw.
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According to the organizers of the protest, they have two main postulates. The first is a protest against the import of goods from Ukraine and other non-EU countries.
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“European farmers bear costs and comply with rules that farmers from Ukraine and other countries outside the community are not subject to. Allowing non-EU agri-food products into the European market without any rules is extremely irresponsible on Europe’s part and threatens our existence. This threatens the food security of Europeans!” – a statement from the organizers states.
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The second postulate is a revision of the Common Agricultural Policy – the EU norms and strategy in the field of agricultural development.
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“We are protesting against restrictions on plant and animal production and the introduction of further environmental restrictions as a result of the European Green Deal,” the protesters said in a statement.
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In early November, Polish carriers, later joined by farmers, blocked road checkpoints on the border with Ukraine. They demand the restoration of the previously canceled permit system for Ukrainian commercial carriers with exceptions for humanitarian aid and supplies for Ukrainian troops, the suspension of licenses for companies created in Ukraine after February 2022, their inspection, and the separation of queues of empty and loaded vehicles.
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Polish-Ukrainian relations have become significantly more complicated due to the embargo on Ukrainian grain. On September 15, the European Commission decided not to extend restrictions on the import of four types of Ukrainian agricultural products into several EU border countries, but obliged Kyiv to introduce export control measures. After this, the authorities of Slovakia, Hungary and Poland announced that they were extending the ban unilaterally. In this regard, Ukraine filed a complaint with the WTO. In response, three EU countries announced that they would boycott meetings of the coordination platform on Ukrainian grain.
