Minister of Agriculture of Poland Czeslaw Siekierski assured local farmers that the borders would not be opened and the embargo on Ukrainian products was indefinite until it was lifted.
Poland improved an indefinite embargo on Ukrainian agricultural products
The Polish-Ukrainian border will not be opened for Ukrainian goods, and the embargo on their export to Poland will be indefinite.
This was stated by Polish Minister of Agriculture Czeslaw Siekierski at a press conference after a meeting with representatives of the All-Polish Association of Farmers' Unions and Agricultural Organizations on January 4, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Poland reports.
The borders will not be opened, the embargo on Ukrainian products is indefinite — until it is lifted, Siekierski said.
The Polish minister emphasised the importance of negotiating with protesting farmers to find the best solutions.
According to the minister, he supports the demands of the protesters, which, however, must be adapted to the current legislation in Poland, including EU legislation.
He reminds the Polish government is ready to meet all farmers' demands. However, according to Sekersky, legal sanctioning all demands will take time.
There is no reason to believe that what I promised will not be fulfilled, he assured.
Polish farmers are on strike at the border with Ukraine
Polish farmers resumed the protest and blocked the "Medyka-Shegyni" border checkpoint on January 4, which was suspended on December 24, 2023.
The organisation's leader, Roman Kondruv, told the Polish mass media that the organisation had not received written confirmation that its demands would be met so that the protest would continue.
The farmers started their protest on November 23 last year and stopped it a month later. On the eve of Christmas, the Minister of Agriculture of Poland, Czeslaw Siekierski, came to Medyka and assured the farmers that their demands would be met.
Polish farmers insist on receiving written assurances from the Polish government that their demands will be met. It is about canceling the increase in the agricultural tax, facilitating access to soft loans to maintain the liquidity of their farms, subsidies for corn in the amount of 1,000 zlotys per hectare, as well as regulating the conditions for importing food products from Ukraine.
On January 3, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk emphasised the importance of ending the blockade, especially in the context of escalating bombings and increasingly intense actions by the Russian Federation. He believes that arguments will be better heard when Poland is not a country that blocks borders.
