Problem of the “grain issue” with Ukraine should be resolved at the political level, – Duda

Polish President Andrzej Duda has said that Warsaw will not be able to solve the problem of the ban on Ukrainian agricultural products and the blockade of the border by Polish farmers on its own, and a political solution is needed from the European Union. He said this in an interview with LRT.

“This is indeed a very serious problem, and it will remain a problem in the future. I want to emphasize that it was Brussels that decided to lift restrictions on food imports from Ukraine to the EU. Unfortunately, this has consequences beyond Ukraine, particularly in Poland.

We are a predominantly agricultural country, and suddenly our market is flooded with a huge amount of agricultural products from Ukraine, which is known to be a world power when it comes to agriculture. Thanks to its wonderful, extremely fertile black soil, Ukraine is the world’s breadbasket, and much of the world benefits from it,” Duda said.

“But it’s really a problem for our farmers because food from Ukraine is cheaper, and it’s destroying local markets. Our market is much smaller, we are half the size of Ukraine. This is a paradoxical situation, and it is not surprising that farmers are defending themselves, because they have invested in their farms in Poland, and cheap agricultural products from Ukraine are catastrophically destructive for them,” he emphasized.

According to him, the issue of exporting Ukrainian agricultural products, which is a “political issue,” affects ordinary people, ordinary farmers.

“We need to solve this problem(the grain issue – ed.), but Poland will not be able to solve it on its own, because if we tried to limit the flow of Ukrainian products to the European Union, we would violate the rules of the Community,” the Polish president said.

Duda emphasized that the grain issue should be resolved at the political level.

“Therefore, Brussels must find conditions that will also protect member states from the situation we are in today. This problem must be solved at the political level,” he added.

Tags: Ukraine, grain, Poland, restrictions