The ball is in Ukraine’s court: either it wants to reach an agreement with Poland, or we will have to introduce further restrictions on the import of Ukrainian goods, Deputy Agriculture Minister Michał Kołodziejczak announced on Tuesday.
The Deputy Minister of Agriculture was asked, among other things, on Polsat News: whether the government is considering introducing a unilateral embargo on the import of more agri-food products from Ukraine. Kołodziejczak recalled that wheat, corn, sunflowers and rapeseed cannot be imported into Poland.
He said that Minister Czesław Siekierski will speak with his Ukrainian counterpart Mykola Solski on Wednesday.
Today the ball is in Ukraine’s court. Either they want to reach an agreement with us, or we will have to introduce further restrictions
– Kołodziejczak added.
The representative of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development also announced talks with protesting farmers, which would begin next week.
Numerous farmers’ protests took place across Poland on Tuesday, including blocking roads, highways, highways and border crossings with Ukraine. Farmers will oppose the influx of Ukrainian goods, as well as European policies regarding the so-called Green deal.
Peasant protests have been going on in many European countries for several weeks, including: Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Greece, the Czech Republic, Italy, Hungary and Slovakia. Farmers are protesting against the low prices of agricultural products, the European Green Deal and the cheap imports of agricultural products from outside the European Union. While some issues are country specific, many issues apply across Europe.
Farmers are particularly dissatisfied with the fact that they themselves have to comply with the restrictive rules of EU agricultural policy, while farmers from non-EU countries who export products to the EU market are excluded from this. Demonstrations in Eastern European countries focus on what farmers say is unfair competition: imports from Ukraine, on which the EU has waived quotas and tariffs since Russia invaded. In the west of the continent, farmers are also raising the issue of importing products from Morocco or South American countries. in the event of signing a free trade agreement between the EU and the strongest free trade area in South America. – Mercosur.
Protests across Europe
Farmers taking part in protests across Europe criticized the EU’s so-called green targets, which they say burden them with costs and bureaucracy that non-European producers do not face, and with excessive regulation at EU level.
The EU’s trade liberalization with Ukraine was first introduced in June 2022, following Russian aggression. It was then extended for another year in mid-2023. The European Commission is now expected to propose another one-year extension, until June 2025.
The European Championship at the beginning of May last year introduced a ban on the import of wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflowers from Ukraine to Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia as a result of an agreement with these countries on Ukrainian agri-food products. The restrictions were initially in place until June 5, then extended until mid-September. The embargo was lifted on September 15 based on the decision of the European Commission.
After that date, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia imposed an embargo on Ukrainian agricultural products, prompting Kiev to file a complaint against these countries with the World Trade Organization (WTO). The restrictions affected domestic markets and not transit to other markets.
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mly/PAP
Source: wPolityce
Emma Matthew is a political analyst for “Social Bites”. With a keen understanding of the inner workings of government and a passion for politics, she provides insightful and informative coverage of the latest political developments.