Polish farmers to block German border as well

23 February 14:11

On Saturday, 24 February, the Polish farmers’ union Solidarity plans to block the Polish border with Germany, the with reference to RMF24.

To begin with, on Saturday, they plan to block the road near the border town of Myslibuzh and stay there permanently until 20 March.

After the weekend, they will block the border crossing near the village of Krajnik Dolny, where a round-the-clock strike is also planned.

At the same time, local entrepreneurs opposed the blockades this time. They argue that such actions by the ‘farmers’ prevent them from carrying out their activities freely. Transport companies also opposed the blockades, threatening the “farmers” with lawsuits for damages.

The idea to extend the protest to the border with Germany was suggested to the protesters by Polish Deputy Minister of Agriculture Michał Kolodziejczak the day before. He said that if he were them, he would block the border with Germany. Thus, the official Polish authorities and the protesters only confirm that the problem is not the export of Ukrainian grain to Poland (which is in transit through the country), but the fact that Ukraine is taking away EU markets from Poland, including the German one.

Border blockade

on 9 February 2024, Polish farmers launched a new nationwide strike and blockade of the border with Ukraine, which will last until 10 March. It was initiated by the independent farmers’ trade union Solidarity. Starting from 12 February, they plan to block all checkpoints. The main demand of the protesters is to cancel the preferential trade regime with Ukraine and return the permit system for importing goods into Poland.

Problems at the border began on 6 November 2023, when Polish transport companies began blocking truck traffic at three major checkpoints on the Ukrainian border: “Korczowa-Krakowiec, Hrebenne-Rava-Ruska, and Dorohusk-Yagodyn. One of the requirements was to reinstate the permits for Ukrainian carriers that had been cancelled under the agreement with the EU by 30 June 2024.

On6 January, truck traffic to the Medyka-Shehyni border crossingin Poland resumed. Three other border crossing points were opened on 17 January, namely Dorohusk – Yagodyn, Hrebenne – Rava-Ruska, and Korczowa – Krakivets.

In Romania, on 13 and 14 January, local farmers blocked the movement of Ukrainian trucks through the Siret checkpoint, and on 15 January, they began blocking the Vicovu de Sus checkpoint. on 18 January, Romanian farmers began blocking the Dyakove-Halmeu checkpoint. However, as of 20 January, these checkpoints were opened.

Currently, the blockade of the border continues – “Polish farmers” have blocked truck traffic at six checkpoints. According to the State Border Guard Service, there are more than 2,500 trucks in the queues.

Meanwhile, Poland has already imposed an embargo on Ukrainian grain, according to Polish Deputy Agriculture Minister Michal Kolodziejczak.

Polish Minister of Development and Technology Krzysztof Hetman, in turn, said that Poland could impose an embargo on all Ukrainian agricultural products.

The preferential trade regime and its opponents

Many EU members did not like the quota-free imports of Ukrainian products to the EU, which was in effect in 2022-2023. In particular, a number of Eastern European countries demanded that the EU impose import duties on Ukrainian goods, citing unfair competition. The ministers of agriculture of Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia sent a letter to the European Commission asking for action, stating that cheaper agricultural products from Ukraine were eating into their export markets.

The Ukrainian side tried to reach an agreement with the ‘problematic’ countries.” In particular, on 26 January, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted a resolution that improves the rules for exporting certain types of agricultural products. According to the resolution, a company may be excluded from the list of verified agricultural entities if it violates these rules.

At the end of January 2024, the European Commission effectively reintroduced quotas for some Ukrainian goods. It extended the special preferential regime with Ukraine for a year, but set special conditions and safeguards for some goods.

In particular, in order to “stabilise imports at the level of average volumes in 2022-2023”, the EU has come up with an “emergency braking” mechanism for three products: poultry, eggs and sugar.

In practice, this means setting a quota at the level of the average export volume in 2022-2023, exceeding which will automatically result in an import tariff being applied to the products.

Thus, the EC’s decision effectively brings back quotas for some Ukrainian products, even if at the average level of Ukrainian exports. However, even this compromise solution does not suit the Polish farmers’ union.

Thedecision was approved by the EU ambassadors. Now it is the turn of the European Parliament.

Остафійчук Ярослав
Editor