What is currently happening on the border is a certain conflict of interests between Polish farmers, who fear for their existence, and producers of agricultural products in Ukraine. The parties are trying to solve this problem.
This was stated by the President of Poland Andrzej Duda in an interview "Ukrainian Radio".
"Farmers are afraid of a huge influx of Ukrainian agricultural products into the markets of European Union countries. They are afraid of it. They believe that it must be controlled because they fear for their existence. It's hard not to understand that they fear for their livelihoods." - said the president.
He assured that negotiations on this "difficult problem" are ongoing. The politician emphasized that such a situation would not have arisen if there had not been a full-scale invasion of the Russian Armed Forces.
"When a huge amount of Ukrainian grain entered our domestic Polish market, which caused a lot of confusion and also led to protests by farmers, the then Polish government was forced to block the possibility of importing grain to Poland. But we created transit corridors so that this grain could be transported to the ports through the territory of Poland, so that it could be transported to where it was needed." explained Duda.
He emphasized that these corridors did not exist before, and thanks to them, the amount of grain transported through Poland increased 300 times.
The Polish president added that "these protests, at the moment, can be said to have swept through almost the entire European Union."
"This is a really difficult problem, because the problem with Ukrainian food has existed from the very beginning. It started because of Russian aggression against Ukraine. Because let's remember that it is the Russian aggression against Ukraine that is to blame for everything, and not someone else. If there had been no Russian aggression against Ukraine, this problem would not have arisen at all. The problem is that Russia attacked Ukraine," — he noted.
Duda emphasized that Poles have the right to protest, and if it is legal, the authorities will protect it. At the same time, he emphasized that blocking the border is only a decision of the farmers, not the Polish government.
"In Poland, no one can attack people who are protesting peacefully, who are defending their interests. This is not allowed. It's illegal." he added.
The Polish president also expressed hope that the conflict will be resolved peacefully.
"Some time ago, we had protests by drivers, trade unions, as well as truck drivers' associations. And this protest was stopped precisely as a result of negotiations with the authorities, as a result of agreements reached in the tripartite formula Poland-Ukraine-drivers. I hope that in the same way it will be possible to solve this issue peacefully, through negotiations," — he emphasized.
At the same time, Duda emphasized that his government will continue to support Ukraine in its resistance to the Russian invaders.
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