Polish government settles with farmers to end border blockade with Ukraine at one checkpoint

Polish protesters, who blocked the Medyka-Shehyni crossing on the border with Ukraine, are suspending their action. This resulted from today's agreements between them and the Polish Minister of Agriculture, Czesław Siekierski.

This is reported by Rubryka, referring to the Polish media outlet Polsat News.

It is noted that the negotiations between the government officials and the farmers lasted 17 hours. After that, Subcarpathian voivode Teresa Kubas-Hul announced signing the agreement between the parties at a press conference on Saturday.

"After the signing of the agreement, the protest at the checkpoint in Medyka is suspended for the period necessary for the implementation of legal and notification changes and for the time necessary for the implementation of additional changes," the agreement states.

In his turn, the Polish Minister of Agriculture, Czesław Siekierski, said this agreement "is neither the beginning nor the end of the dialogue that we started and will continue with the farmers."

Siekierski promised to satisfy all the demands of the farmers. They include the launch of 1 million zlotys in corn subsidies, an increase in liquid loan lending by 2.5 billion zlotys, and maintaining the level of the agricultural tax at the 2023 level.

"We accept the demands of agrarians for implementation, and they are included in our budget proposals 2024 regarding corn subsidies and loans. Of course, the budget is in the process of being adopted. I am convinced that the Supreme Seimas will accept all this, so I can be optimistic about the fulfillment of these two points," he said.

The minister said the agreement designed to help unblock the Medyka-Shehyni checkpoint has been signed. Siekierski reported this on the X social network (formerly Twitter).

"The farmers' protest has been suspended. The agreement has been signed," the minister's post reads.

What is known about the blocking of the Polish-Ukrainian border by farmers

We will remind that on November 23, farmers joined the protest of Polish carriers. They intend to hold a three-day action in solidarity with transport industry representatives.

On December 24, Polish farmers ended the blockade of the Medyka-Shehyni checkpoint, and truck traffic resumed.

And already on January 4 of the new year, Polish farmers on the territory of Poland resumed by blocking the movement of trucks in front of the checkpoint Medyka-Shehyni.

On the same day, Polish Minister of Agriculture Czesław Siekierski said that the Polish-Ukrainian border will not be opened for Ukrainian goods, and the embargo on their export to Poland will be indefinite.

In response, the European Commission sent a letter to Poland demanding the lifting of an indefinite embargo on duty-free imports of certain agricultural goods from Ukraine.