Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that Ukraine and Poland are negotiating the temporary closure of the border and the termination of bilateral trade.
This is reported by RMF FM.
He emphasized that this will be a "temporary solution and painful for both sides."
"I am ready to make tough decisions when it comes to the border with Ukraine, but I always consult with Kyiv to avoid unnecessary tension. We have to find a long-term solution," Tusk noted.
At the same time, he announced the agricultural summit in Warsaw, which should take place on February 29. There, Tusk will hold talks with the leaders of the protesting farmers about "possible grain subsidies and other measures that will allow the sale of Polish grain as soon as possible."
"We are ready for a serious conversation about limits — the limits proposed by Brussels and Kyiv are unacceptable to us," said the Polish Prime Minister.
He added that there was an attempt to limit the arrival of agricultural products from Ukraine — so that the same amount as in 2022 and 2023 entered duty-free. Poland will propose in Brussels that the base period should not be the years 2022-2023, but the times before a full-scale war.
"We are constantly looking for a solution that will protect the Polish market from flooding with much cheaper agricultural products. We want to help Ukraine, but we cannot allow this help to have negative consequences for our citizens," Tusk said.
- From November 2023, Poles periodically block checkpoints on the border with Ukraine. Polish carriers, and then farmers, have been obstructing the movement of trucks for varying lengths of time, demanding from their authorities and the European Union to improve working conditions and preferences. They are asking for a ban on the import of agricultural products from Ukraine that do not meet EU standards, the return of the permit system for Ukrainian transporters, subsidies for fertilizers, compensation for excise duty on fuel, payment of subsidies, and have other demands that have nothing to do with Ukraine.
- On February 20, Polish farmers began a general strike across the country. The Association of Hunters joined them. Protesters blocked six checkpoints on the border with Ukraine. But in the evening of the same day, traffic restrictions near three checkpoints were eased.
- Against the backdrop of the Polesʼ blockade of Ukraineʼs western border, Volodymyr Zelensky instructed the government to be at the border with Poland by February 24 and asked Prime Minister Donald Tusk to come there as well, urging Duda to support the governmentʼs dialogue.
- The Polish authorities agreed to a meeting, but in a different format — on March 28 in Warsaw at the level of representatives of the governments of Poland and Ukraine.
- On February 22, the Prime Minister of Poland announced that checkpoints on the border with Ukraine will be added to the list of critical infrastructure — this will guarantee the entry of military and humanitarian aid into Ukraine without obstacles.
- Ukraine considers criticism of its products to be baseless and calls it a political issue.