EU Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski incites the protests of Polish farmers who spread the blockade to the borders with Germany and Slovakia

Hysteria is intensifying in Poland over the losses of local farmers caused by Ukrainian grain, and no one is paying attention to the reasons for the drop in world prices. Even the EU Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, declares that Ukraine has caused losses to the EU's agrarian complex of 19 billion euros, thus fueling protests in the country.

Yesterday, Polish farmers blocked the border with Germany at the Swiecko point on the A2 highway for half a day. Farmers initially planned to block the border for a month, but later changed their minds, calling the block a precautionary measure.

At the same time, several dozens of Polish farmers blocked the Barvinek border crossing with Slovakia for an hour in order to search for Ukrainian grain that reaches Poland from Slovakia. "We will check whether grain from Ukraine enters Poland from Slovakia, and we will count how many goods are moving across the border," one of the organizers of the blockade told the Polsat TV channel. The blockade will last until the evening of February 29, but the strikers promise to let cars and buses through.

Yesterday, the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, announced at a press conference that the losses of the EU agricultural sector from the liberalization of trade with Ukraine in 2022-2023 reached €19 billion, since the export of agricultural products from the EU to Ukraine amounted to €6 billion, and the import - €25 billion. At the same time, the amount of exports amounted to €69 billion, and imports - €50 billion, that is, the EU trade balance with Ukraine was positive, and European companies received profits.

At the same time, the Euro commissioner did not analyze the supplies of previous years and did not indicate that cheap Ukrainian grain increased the margins of European processors, although he admitted that the specified €19 billion in losses became the price of the war in Ukraine.

Therefore, Wojciechovsky called on Ukrainian farmers to "understand the situation of European farmers and reorient the export of their products outside the EU."

At the same time, ex-Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki proposed to immediately introduce an embargo on products from Ukraine.

The policy of isolation, which Polish farmers insist on, will cause losses to many European, including local, companies that export dairy and other products to Ukraine. However, politicians and farmers do not want to analyze the situation, but only compete for farmers' votes ahead of local elections in April and elections to the European Parliament, which will be held in June.