In Poland, farmers’ protests are intensifying. They are angry at Ukrainian imports that have flooded the local market and driven down prices for Polish farmers since the Russian invasion of Poland began.
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Polish farmers opened two Ukrainian freight wagons at the border on Tuesday and dumped grain on the tracks, police said, angering Kiev. Farmers prevent Ukrainian trucks from entering Poland to protest against what they consider a “ unfair competition », creating tensions between the two neighbors. Polish farmers launched this new protest movement by blocking around a hundred roads and border crossing points.
At the border between the two countries, the tension is palpable, points out our special envoy to the Polish-Ukrainian border, Martin Chabal. Nerves are on edge. Farmers have been demonstrating relentlessly for almost ten days and blocking border crossings leading to Ukraine. Marcin Wilgos is one of the organizers of this event: “ We are flooded with Ukrainian agricultural products that are not subject to European standards. For them, it is therefore cheaper to produce and it is sold less expensively… » They denounce a situation of unfair competition since the European Union (EU) removed customs duties for certain Ukrainian products since the start of the Russian invasion.
“ The erosion of solidarity » for Zelensky
Ireneusz grows sugar beets. He hopes for quick and concrete solutions. “Imports of raw materials from across the border must be banned. Before the war, I sold my sugar for 380 euros, now we have difficulty selling it for more than 160 euros.»
But on the Ukrainian side, the border blockade is having difficulty getting through. Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, even believes that the blockade at the border demonstrates “the erosion of solidarity» between Poles and Ukrainians. However, the demonstrators do not say they are victims of aid to Ukraine, but rather of European rules and standards that are difficult to reconcile with the complicated situation they have been going through since the start of the war.
(With AFP)
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