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Polish farmers block roads to protest EU rules, cheap imports from Ukraine

09.02.2024 12:30
Polish farmers blocked roads nationwide on Friday in protest against what they say are unfair European Union policies leading to an influx of cheap produce from Ukraine. 
Photo:
Photo:PAP/Darek Delmanowicz

The protest, which also includes blockades of the country's border crossings with Ukraine, comes amid a wave of similar demonstrations in other EU countries and reflects broader discontent among agricultural producers across the bloc.

Farmers in France, Belgium, Portugal, Greece and Germany have been protesting against EU measures to tackle climate change as well as rising costs and unfair competition from abroad, the Reuters news agency has reported.

Polish farmers have voiced disgruntlement with the impact of cheap food imports from Ukraine.

"Our patience has run out," they said in a statement released last week. "Brussels' position ... is unacceptable for our entire agricultural community," they added.

Polish farmers from the Solidarity trade union last week announced "a general strike," criticising the government for being passive in the face of growing imports of farm produce from Ukraine.

Poland's Agriculture Minister Czesław Siekierski on Friday voiced understanding for the farmers, who were planning to stage 260 rallies and road blockades in various parts of the country throughout the day, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.

(gs)

Source: IAR, PAP