Ukraine and Poland were never able to agree on unblocking the borders

On March 27-28, the government delegations of Ukraine and Poland held negotiations on unblocking the borders for the import and transit of Ukrainian agricultural products, which were attended by the Minister of Agricultural Policy M. Solskyi and his deputy M. Dmytrasevich, the Deputy Minister of Economy T. Kachka from the Ukrainian side and the Minister of Agriculture Czeslaw Sekersky, his deputy Michal Kolodzejczak from the Polish side, as well as representatives of Ukrainian and Polish agricultural associations.

Prime Minister of Ukraine D. Shmyhal said that Ukraine agreed to the export restrictions proposed by the European Commission, which are necessary to avoid even theoretical threats to Polish agricultural producers. Also, Ukraine offered the European Commission to conduct an urgent screening of legislation in the field of transport and agricultural policy, which may take place as early as the end of April.

Ukrainians thanked the Government and the Diet of Poland, which called on the European Commission to introduce a 50% tariff on Russian agricultural products, which would stop their supply to the EU.

It was also proposed to create an anti-crisis headquarters, and to involve associations in the already established cooperation of the ministries of agriculture and economy.

The Ukrainian side asked Poland to freely pass through the code not only ammunition and humanitarian aid, but also fuel, as it concerns national security. Poland included border checkpoints and the roads adjacent to them to the list of critical infrastructure objects, which Ukraine did accordingly.

D. Shmyhal also emphasized that grain from Ukraine does not enter the Polish market today, as its export can only take place on the basis of licenses that have not yet been issued.

The Ukrainian delegation noted that today the parties have come much closer to unblocking the borders, so it is important to maintain positive trends and move forward. The next negotiations will be held next week in a narrow format, and later in April - in a broad format.

At the same time, the general director of "UKAB" O. Khomenko, in a comment for Latifundist.com, called the behavior of the Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Poland, Michał Kolodziejczak, unprofessional and incorrect, which actually led to the breakdown of the negotiations. "After 3 hours of work, when the parties almost reached a consensus, he began to shout that he did not understand anything, "what will we tell the people, the Ukrainians will deceive us again, the public will not agree to such a thing", he even remembered the Hadiatsk Union of 1658 and made his a speech with a mix of teachings and chauvinism."

Acting Yana Kavushevska, the head of the board of the National Association of Sugar Growers of Ukraine, also said that the parties were close to solving the problem of blocking the border and were even discussing a joint statement on this issue, when Michal Kolodziejczak disrupted negotiations with his destructive behavior and prevented Polish farmers from returning home for Easter.

However, all parties note that it is necessary to remain optimistic and continue negotiations.