Polish farmers threaten to block entire border with Ukraine

Polish farmers have threatened to block all border checkpoints on the Polish-Ukrainian border after December 10 unless the government meets their demands.

This was discussed during negotiations on Sunday in Medyka, at the Polish-Ukrainian border, between protesters and Poland's Minister of Agriculture, Czesław Siekierski, according to Ukrinform citing TOK.FM.

As a result of the talks in Medyka, Minister Siekierski declared that he would prepare a response to the protesters' demands by December 10. Specifically, farmers expect decisive opposition from the Warsaw authorities concerning the free trade agreement between the EU and South American countries. They fear that inaction may lead to an influx of agricultural products from these Mercosur member countries into the Polish market. In addition, Polish farmers demand that the government maintain the agricultural tax for 2024 at the same level as the previous year.

Polish farmers emphasized that on Sunday evening, they suspended — not fully ended — their protest.

“We are giving the minister time, and if nothing is done, we will definitely return to the border. This will be a massive protest, with demonstrations across the entire eastern border,” said Roman Kondrów, head of the Betrayed Village organization.

As previously reported, Poland’s Minister of Agriculture Siekierski met on Sunday with protesters who had been blocking truck traffic near the Medyka-Shehyni border checkpoint since Saturday. Following the negotiations, the protest at this checkpoint was suspended.