Poland plans to inspect grain shipments from Ukraine after farmers blockaded border crossings and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk vowed to defend domestic producers against unfair competition.
The Polish government might introduce the new regulations as early as Monday next week, Polish Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and former farmers activist Michal Kolodziejczak told PAP news agency.
The Polish government might also start publishing a list of companies that have flouted an import ban that was imposed by the previous administration.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“We need to check carefully all the grain transiting from Ukraine,” Kolodziejczak said. “I’ll force the introduction of such regulations. It’s ‘to be or not to be’ for Poland and its agriculture.”
Tensions at the border with Ukraine are running high after farmers on Friday last week began their month-long protest against what they describe as uncontrolled influx of food products from Ukraine and to oppose the EU’s climate policies. Poland only allows for shipments to cross its territory on the way to other destinations.
Polish media on Sunday reported that local farmers dumped grain from Ukrainian trucks onto the road near Dorohusk border crossing, prompting Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba to call on the government in Warsaw to hold those responsible to account.
Last year’s protests in Poland led the previous government to ban Ukrainian grain to placate farmers before a parliamentary election. The restrictions have raised tensions between Warsaw and Kyiv, which sees exports of agricultural products as the key source of financing in its war against Russia’s invasion.
Former European Council president Tusk came to power in December last year pledging to rally flagging support for Ukraine among Western allies.
However, Tusk has declined to remove the ban on grain imports and said unfettered access for agricultural products from Poland’s eastern neighbor might stoke anti-Ukrainian sentiment.
The government in Warsaw is seeking European Commission’s approval to expand local ban on Ukrainian grain imports to poultry and sugar. Ukrainian imports and food safety were also one of the topics during Tusk’s meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Monday.
“We want to help Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression,” Tusk said on Sunday at a rally in Morag in northeastern Poland. “But we can’t allow anyone to exploit our empathy and openness and to use the war as an opportunity for unfair competition against our farmers and companies.”
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