The protests of Polish farmers arose as a result of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine. If Russia had not attacked Ukraine, then the crisis in the Polish market would not have arisen, due to which farmers began to blockade the border.
This was stated by Polish President Andrzej Duda in an interview at an information telethon, commenting on the situation on the border with Ukraine.
Protests in Poland and the EU
— We must realize that these are not only Polish farmers, but also from other countries. These protests have now spread throughout the European Union. Farmers are afraid of a huge influx of Ukrainian agricultural products on the markets of European Union countries.
They are afraid of it, they think that it needs to be controlled, because they are afraid for their existence. Understand that they fear for their livelihood. They demand that the European Union resolve these issues at the Brussels level. Negotiations on this matter are currently ongoing, — Duda explained.
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According to the Polish President, the problem arose as a result of Russian aggression against Ukraine. This provoked a huge food crisis, which is why the UN had to intervene, says Andrzej Duda.
— However, this is really difficult because the problem with Ukrainian food has existed from the very beginning. It began due to Russian aggression against Ukraine. Remember that Russian aggression against Ukraine is to blame for everything, and not someone else. If there had been no Russian aggression against Ukraine, this problem would not have arisen at all. The problem is that Russia attacked Ukraine, — he emphasized.
Grain transportation through Poland
According to Duda, after the intervention of the UN, an agreement was concluded according to which Ukrainian grain could be exported to African countries or others, but blocked for the Polish domestic market.
— Certainly. All this happened because Russia attacked Ukraine. This caused a whole shock, a food crisis in a huge part of the world, where it is often said that Ukraine is the breadbasket of the world. So the UN had to intervene. And a grain pact was concluded so that grain could be exported from Ukraine at least to African countries or others that need it.
In Poland, after the initial crisis surrounding this, when huge amounts of Ukrainian grain entered our domestic market, it caused a lot of confusion and led to protests from farmers. The then Polish government was forced to block the possibility of importing grain into Poland, — said Duda.
However, the President emphasized that transit corridors have been created so that Ukrainian grain can be transported to ports through Polish territory and transported to where it is really needed.
— It is important to remember that these corridors did not exist before. They were created recently. And during this time, the amount of agricultural products transported through Poland from Ukraine increased 300 times thanks to these measures. There has never been a situation where Poland was closed to agricultural products from Ukraine.
No, Poland closed its domestic market for Ukrainian grain due to the crisis and a sharp drop in product prices. But it did not block the possibility of grain transit through Poland. It is very important. Not everyone knows that this transit happened all the time, so we never blocked Ukraine, — states Andrzej Duda.
