Stefanishyna says border blockade in Poland lies in domestic political domain

This was stated by the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine,  Minister of Justice Olha Stefanishyna, who spoke with journalists as part of an evening of solidarity with victims of violence, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

“I’d like to clearly articulate that this issue (the blockade of the border by Polish farmers – ed.) is part of the domestic political life in the Republic of Poland. We understand that the primaries have begun, preparations for the presidential elections in Poland are beginning, and you don’t have to be a genius to analyze the calendar and understand: if there is a blockade on the border with Ukraine, elections are expected in Poland,” Stefanishyna said.

According to the Deputy Prime Minister, Ukraine was ready for such developments.

In this context, she recalled that even in the conditions of a complete blockade of the Ukrainian-Polish border, we reached an agreement on the continuation of transit liberalization.

“A new European Commission will be approved in the coming weeks, and I am sure that this decision (on preventing new border blockades – ed.) will be adopted in the same way,” the Deputy Prime Minister noted.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, Polish Minister of Agriculture Czesław Sekiewicz met on Sunday with protesters who had been blocking the movement of trucks near the Medyca-Shehyni checkpoint on the Polish-Ukrainian border since Saturday. As a result of the negotiations, the protest at the border outside of this checkpoint was suspended.

Polish farmers threaten to block all checkpoints on the Polish-Ukrainian border after December 10 if the country’s government fails to meet their demands.

Following the negotiations in Medyca, Minister Siekierski declared he would prepare a response to the protesters’ demands by December 10. In particular, farmers expect the authorities in Warsaw to strongly oppose the free trade agreement between the EU and Latin American countries. They fear that the lack of a reaction could lead to an influx of agricultural products from the countries of that region, which are members of the Mercosur organization, into the Polish market. In addition, Polish farmers demand that the government maintain the agricultural tax in 2024 for farmers at the level of last year.