Farmers of Poland and Hungary plan to stage strikes on the border with Ukraine. Already tomorrow, February 9, at ten in the morning, Polish protesters will block traffic at the checkpoints "Yagodin", "Rava-Ruska" and "Shehyni".
This was reported by the State Border Service of Ukraine (SBSU).
Farmers plan to allow one truck per hour at the "Yagodin" and "Shehyni" checkpoints, and two trucks in the direction of "Rava-Ruska". Humanitarian cargo and buses will pass unhindered.
According to the preliminary information of the SBSU, from February 12 traffic may be complicated for trucks at two checkpoints — "Ustyluh" and "Uhryniv". Three trucks per hour will be allowed through.
Hungarian border guards are also warning about farmersʼ protests on February 9 on the highway to the "Zachon" checkpoint, which is opposite the Ukrainian "Chop (Tysa)". In advance, the strikers will not block road traffic.
The initiator of the protests, the Polish farmersʼ trade union "Solidarity" has published a map of the strikes.
What is known about the new strikes
Earlier, Polish farmers announced a new nationwide strike. They plan to block all border crossings between Poland and Ukraine until March 10.
Polish and Hungarian farmers do not agree with the intention of the European Commission to extend the duty-free regime for exports from Ukraine until the middle of 2025. The regime is not as liberal as in the past two years and takes into account the peculiarities of EU farmers.
The new autonomous trade measures actually include quotas for the most sensitive products — poultry, eggs and sugar. If the import of these products exceeds the average annual import volumes for 2022 and 2023, duties will be imposed on them. The proposal of the European Commission should be considered by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU.
Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary demanded that the European Union introduce import duties on grain from Ukraine. The European Commission refused them, but spoke of plans to introduce additional guarantees to limit the export of Ukrainian food.
Ukraine, for its part, has changed the rules for exporting agricultural products to the above-mentioned five EU countries. For violations, entrepreneurs will be deprived of verification for six months. However, this does not suit the neighbors either.