Poland defies its neighbor. The Prime Minister has already announced a ban on arms exports to Ukraine and the country is closing its borders to Ukrainian grain.
Poland’s recent times have been exceptional. What is really happening in the country?
Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki questioned the armed support for Ukraine for a Polish news agency in the interview he gave.
Poland needs its own new weapons, was the prime minister’s reasoning.
The statement of the Prime Minister representing the Law and Justice Party (PiS) sharpened the differences with Ukraine in addition to the grain dispute simmering in the background.
Poland has been one of the most significant providers of armed aid to its border neighbor since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. The country has handed over Leopard 2 tanks and Soviet-era MiG-2 fighters to Ukraine, among other things.
Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau later calmed down in his own in his statement Poland’s armed support will continue, but the government strongly defends its own agriculture at the same time.
Ukrainian grain as a tool of the election campaign
Prime Minister Morawiecki’s and Foreign Minister Rau’s statements about protecting Polish agriculture are interpreted to have been aimed at the party’s supporters.
Parliamentary elections will be held in Poland in October.
Contrary to the decisions of the EU, Poland decided to extend the ban on the import of grain and agricultural products from Ukraine in mid-September. Hungary and Slovakia made the same decision at the time.
The transit of grain, on the other hand, is allowed.
Ukrainian grain has been brought to the world market in record quantities after the war through Eastern European countries. Grain transport moved from the Black Sea to land transport due to the war.
Some of the Ukrainian grain and agricultural products have moved to the internal market of Poland.
In the opinion of the Polish government, this is precisely what threatens the Polish agricultural industry.
After the grain ban decision, Poland immediately got into a fierce war of words with Ukraine and the EU. Ukraine filed a case in the World Trade Organization (WTO) not only against Poland but also against Hungary and Slovakia.
What do Poles think about their country’s strained relations with its border neighbor Ukraine?
Poles’ sympathies for Ukrainian refugees in the country have decreased rapidly since the beginning of the year, says a freshman Polish research. For example, fewer and fewer Poles want to help Ukrainians living in the country.
There are approx. Ukrainian refugees in Poland million.
See the Poles’ thoughts on the situation in the video.
The upcoming elections are expected to be dominated by the conservative and anti-EU Law and Justice party and Donald Hardly between the liberal Civic Forum led by
The latest opinion poll Based on this, PiS leads in the election forecasts with 38 percent and Kansalaisforum is second with 30 percent.
The distribution of support for the leading parties goes roughly between the countryside and the big cities of Poland.
One feature in the upcoming elections is worth noting: young people There are a record low number of Polish voters aged 18-24, only seven percent of eligible voters.
The left-wing Lewica and the ultra-patriotic, anti-refugee Confederacy party are especially fighting for the votes of Polish youth.
Parliamentary elections will be held in Poland on the fifteenth of October.
See here A-studio 25.9.2023 about the situation in Poland during the elections.
Translations Tapani Kärkkäinen.