Poles blocked the border with Ukraine again: more than a thousand trucks are in queues

On the Ukrainian-Polish border, where Polish farmers have resumed blockades, there are about 1,300 trucks in line at checkpoints. Traffic is not blocked at the Krakivets and Shehyni-Medica checkpoints.

This was reported by the spokesman for the State Border Guard Service, Andriy Demchenko, on the air of the telethon "United News", an Ukrinform correspondent reports. "Over the past day, we have seen an increase in queues in Poland of trucks waiting to cross the border towards Ukraine," Demchenko said.

According to him, as of this morning, about 1300 trucks are waiting in lines at the three checkpoints blocked by Polish farmers – Yahodyn-Dorogusk, Rava-Ruska-Hrebenne, and Yahodyn, with the largest number of trucks in front of the Yahodyn checkpoint.

According to the information received from the Border Guard of the Republic of Poland, the protest in front of the Shehyni-Medica checkpoint ended at 11:30 a.m. today.

The SBGS spokesperson also noted an increase in the number of trucks queuing at the Krakivets checkpoint, where traffic is not blocked, so drivers choose it to cross the border. "As of this morning, a little more than 800 trucks are queuing in front of Krakivets in the direction of Ukraine in Poland," said Demchenko.

Polish authorities support farmers

At the same time, Polish Agriculture Minister Czeslaw Sekerski said that farmers' protests against the influx of goods from Ukraine are justified. According to him, Poland and other countries bordering Ukraine allegedly "suffered the most from the EU's decision to liberalize trade, to open the EU to the inflow of goods from Ukraine, without duties, without quotas."

"Farmers have legitimate fears, expectations, and demands to limit the excessive flow of goods from Ukraine and other non-European markets to the EU, particularly to Poland. We will definitely negotiate to the end because the truth is on the side of farmers and the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, which shares a similar position with farmers," he said.

At the same time, he emphasized that in certain areas a complete blockade of imports would be required. He cited the situation with grain as an example.

"It may be necessary to do so in relation to sugar and poultry. We will make proposals to the EC, but we also want to establish this in our relations with Ukraine," Sekerski said.

The EU supported Ukraine, not Poland

Earlier, Business Insider reported that the EU would not introduce quotas for some Ukrainian products, as the EC refused to respond to Poland's request. Moreover, the EC is preparing a draft decision to extend duty-free trade with Ukraine. It is expected that this regime will be in effect at least until June 2025.

Poland justified its request by saying that imports of Ukrainian products to Europe were allegedly becoming a problem for Western European countries. And it was not just about grain. In particular, Poland noted, that France, Austria, and Germany raised the issue of a threat to their markets:

• poultry;
• fruit;
• sugar.

"These countries are talking, in particular, about the need to renew tariff quotas, which are now suspended under EU rules. We have asked the European Commission to restore tariff quotas for some sensitive products, but this was rejected by the European Commission," said Polish Agriculture Minister Czeslaw Sekerski.

As reported by OBOZ.UA, the Polish authorities are planning to tighten control on the border with Ukraine. In particular, they want to intensify inspections of goods coming from our country. Polish Minister Czeslaw Sekerski conducted inspections at the Medyka and Korchova border checkpoints and announced tighter control and more intensive inspections. 

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