Poland’s government has added border checkpoints to its list of critical infrastructure to restrict potential attempts to block the Polish-Ukrainian border in the future.
This was stated during a meeting with journalists by Paweł Kowal, the Polish government’s commissioner for cooperation with Ukraine and chairman of the Polish Sejm’s Foreign Affairs Committee, according to a Ukrinform correspondent.
“The government has implemented rules related to critical infrastructure, which slightly reduced the inconveniences associated with protests (at the border – ed.),” Kowal noted.
He emphasized that “the list of what is considered critical infrastructure has been expanded.”
Kowal remarked that it is evident that farmers in Poland and across the EU will always seek ways to organize protests that are most impactful on the authorities. On the other hand, any government will attempt to limit these protests within the bounds of the law.
At the same time, he pointed out that the protests at the Polish-Ukrainian border relate to situations that occurred last year; currently, there are no issues at the border between Poland and Ukraine.
The Polish government representative also expressed the view that the scale of last year’s protests was “disproportionate to the level of tension (in the public sphere – ed.) surrounding the issue, particularly from the Ukrainian side.” He noted that this becomes evident when comparing export data to the level of protests, which did not significantly impact trade.
As reported earlier, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski stated that the checkpoints at the Polish-Ukrainian border are critical infrastructure and should not be blocked by protesters.
In an interview with Ukrinform, Poland’s Minister of Justice and Prosecutor General Adam Bodnar stressed that access routes to the Polish-Ukrainian border should be considered critical infrastructure and should not be subject to blockades by protesters.
Polish farmers blocked the border with Ukraine at several points from February to April of last year. Their demands included rejecting the Polish government’s adoption of the European Green Deal and blocking the import of various types of agricultural products from Ukraine.
At the beginning of January, Polish farmers’ organizations picketed the European Commission’s office in Warsaw, protesting the free trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur countries, as well as the import of Ukrainian agricultural products into Poland. Polish farmers do not rule out returning to blockades of the Polish-Ukrainian border if necessary to defend their interests.
