Poland signs an agreement with kyiv

An endless line of Ukrainian trucks at a standstill. Ban on entering Poland. These drivers are stuck at the border, and they are starting to lose patience. Trucks from Ukraine are banned from entering, because on the other side, Polish farmers are upwind. For several weeks, they have been demonstrating against the massive import of Ukrainian cereals, which compete with their local production. “Ukrainian cereals will drive us out of our market“, protests Michal Kolodziejczak, president of the Agrounia union.

An agreement only for goods in transit

Ukraine is a big producer of cereals, and because of the war, millions of tons ended up stuck in the port of Odessa (Ukraine). Impossible to pass through the Black Sea, so the European Union opened land routes and removed customs duties to help Ukraine sell its stocks. But in the five transit countries, the market became saturated, causing prices to fall. So the authorities took a radical decision: to block Ukrainian goods at the border, a decision strongly criticized by the European Commission. Tuesday evening, April 18, an agreement was reached in Ukraine and Poland, but only on goods in transit. The European Commission must bring together all the countries concerned to try to unblock the situation.