Shmyhal voiced for Poland the points of the Ukrainian plan to de-block the border

Ukraine has developed and is offering Poland a plan to unblock the border called the “Plan of Understanding”. This was announced by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

According to him, the plan consists of five steps. Among them:

• Ukraine agrees to the restrictions proposed by the European Commission on agricultural exports. These include restrictions on poultry, eggs, and sugar. They must be exported to the EU without quotas and duties in volumes no greater than the average for 2022 and 2023. If more is exported, restrictions will be reimposed. The Ukrainian side is also ready to continue the mechanism of verification of exports of grain, corn, sunflower, and rapeseed. This means that these four groups of goods will not enter the Polish market without Poland’s permission.
• Ukraine is sending an appeal to the European Commission with a proposal to conduct an urgent screening, i.e., an analysis of clusters 4 and 5, which include agricultural policy and transport. This is necessary in order to eliminate manipulations regarding the quality of agricultural products and whether support for Ukrainian farmers meets the standards of the World Trade Organization.
• the Polish government is proposed to adopt a joint appeal to the European Commission calling for a halt to Russian agricultural exports to the EU. Shmygal said that in 11 months of 2023, Russia sold €2.5 billion worth of agricultural products and food to Europe. 5.1 million tons of food. For the whole of 2022 – 4.9 million tons. In addition, Ukraine has two more proposals for the European Commission: to consider additional restrictions and enhanced monitoring of third-country agricultural imports to the EU, as is currently the case with Ukraine, and to launch joint control at the border of Ukraine and the EU and expand the pilot project on the exchange of customs information;
• create a “Trilateral Headquarters: Ukraine, Poland, European Commission” to be co-chaired by the agriculture ministers of Ukraine, Poland, and a representative of the European Commission. Ukrainian and Polish agricultural associations should be involved in the work of this headquarters;
• since the Polish government has included border crossing points with Ukraine and relevant sections of the railroad in the list of critical infrastructure, the Ukrainian government has also made appropriate decisions to recognize border crossing points with its western neighbors as critical infrastructure.

Shmyhal said that today there are more than 9,000 trucks on the border on both sides.

“The trilateral headquarters should work around the clock, and the issue of blocking the border should be resolved much earlier than March 28, the date when a joint meeting of the governments of Ukraine and Poland is to take place. Otherwise, Ukraine reserves the right to apply mirror measures at the checkpoints,” the Prime Minister emphasized.

As you know, on February 23, no representative of the Polish government arrived at the border to meet with the Ukrainian delegation.

Tags: Meat, rapeseed, restrictions, Ukraine, corn, grain, EU, Poland, sugar