The Polish Parliament has adopted a resolution calling on the European Commission to impose sanctions on agricultural products from Russia and Belarus. This was reported by Kommersant Ukrainian 
with reference to Polskie Radio.
In the resolution, the Sejm points out that imports of agricultural products from Russia and Belarus continue to bring huge revenues to producers, traders and the budgets of these countries. Therefore, the lower house of Poland’s parliament calls on the European Commission to impose sanctions on imports of such products to the EU.
At the same time, the attitudes of Polish MPs are hardly favourable to Ukrainian products. For example, MP Marta Wcisło said that Poland should stand in solidarity with Ukraine, but not at the expense of its own farmers.
“The resolution meets the needs of Polish and European farmers, is the voice of the Polish parliament, and at the same time strengthens the position of the Polish government in negotiations with the European Union. The document calls on the European Union to return to the rules that were in force in trade with Ukraine and other non-EU countries before the war, which meets the basic requirements of Polish farmers,”
– the politician said.
In other words, she, like a significant number of Polish MPs, is calling for the cancellation of the preferential trade regime with Ukraine, as it does not meet the interests of Polish farmers.
Despite this position of Polish lawmakers, yesterday the European Parliament took another step towards extending preferential trade with Ukraine.
As a reminder, Poland has single-handedly imposed an embargo on Ukrainian grain in violation of EU requirements and rules – currently, Ukrainian grain can only pass through Poland in transit. However, Poland does not have a similar solution for Russian goods.
The preferential trade regime and its opponents
Many EU members do not like the quota-free import of Ukrainian products to the EU, which was in effect in 2022-2023. In particular, a number of Eastern European countries are demanding 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, saying that cheaper agricultural products from Ukraine were eating into their export markets.
The European Commission took these comments into account when preparing a draft decision to extend the preferential trade regime with Ukraine and issued a compromise version, which is actually quite harsh on Ukrainian products. At the very least, it creates severe barriers to further growth of Ukrainian exports. However, even this option does not suit these countries. Six major European farmers’ associations have also strongly protested against Ukrainian products.