Polish farmers who are members of the Solidarity trade union have announced a new wave of protests on the Ukrainian-Polish border. As part of the general strike, they are going to block border crossings and roads.
The reason for preparations for the next rally is farmers’ dissatisfaction with Brussels’ decision to import agricultural products from Ukraine and the Polish government’s passivity. This was reported by RMF24.
According to the Solidarity communiqué, all border crossings with Ukraine will be blocked in a week – on Friday, February 9, at 10 am. It has not yet been announced for how long. In addition, temporary road closures will begin in some voivodeships. They will run from February 9 to March 10.
“Our patience has run out. The position of Brussels on the last day of January 2024 is unacceptable for our entire agricultural community,” the publication quoted the statement as saying.
In late January, the European Commission proposed to extend the suspension of import quotas and duties on Ukrainian exports to the EU for another year. At the same time, at the request of several member states, they included fuses for agricultural products.
The activists emphasize that the Polish government should have a clear plan for agricultural production, its profitability, reconstruction of processing and trade in general.
“Polish family farms are the basis of the country’s food security. Healthy Polish food produced by Polish farmers is the basis of nutrition and health of Polish citizens,” the activists emphasize.
Their Hungarian counterparts may join the protests of Polish farmers. They said they would oppose the EU’s decision, and one of the steps will be a protest, which is also planned for February 9 in the city of Zahony, which borders the Chop checkpoint. This is stated in a statement by the Association of Hungarian Farmers’ Associations and Cooperatives (MAGOSZ).
The protesters argue that Ukrainian products pose a threat to EU agriculture in general and to consumers in particular due to uncontrolled quality and the use of banned chemicals by Ukrainian farmers.
As a reminder, the Ukrainian-Polish border was first blocked on November 6, 2023. Then the carriers went on strike. The campaign was to last until February 2024. It is also known that at the end of 2023, Ukraine and Poland were working on conditions for unblocking the border.
