Czech farmers to protest against Ukrainian agricultural products, European Green Deal in Prague on Feb 22

MOSCOW. Feb 15 (Interfax) - Czech farmers will join protests of Central and East European agrarian associations against the EU agrarian policy, the Green Deal and decreasing prices of certain agricultural goods due to the liberalization of economic relations with Ukraine on February 22, Ukrainian media said, citing the Czech media outlet iRozhlas.cz.

"Czech farmers plan to arrive in Prague by 600 to 1,000 tractors and other agricultural vehicles. The vehicles will block the traffic on D1 and D11 highway exits to the capital at 6 a.m. and will stretch out for several kilometers. The protesters plan to picket the Agriculture Ministry's building in the center of Prague at 11 a.m.," Prague municipality representative Vit Hofman said.

In his words, the farmers want to draw attention "to the bad position of agriculture" in the Czech Republic and demand that the Agriculture Ministry leave the European Green Deal.

"For now, we can see that prices of such goods as wheat and chicken are dipping. The reason is the inclusion and liberalization of the free market for Ukraine," Czech Agriculture Minister Marek Vyborny said.

As reported, Polish farmers plan to block every checkpoint at the Polish Ukrainian border, in addition to roads to transshipment rail stations and seaports on February 20. Polish, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Lithuanian and Latvian agrarians demand that the EU compensate farmers for the new environmental protection regulations, ease the bureaucracy, ensure transparency of the distribution of subsidies, and regulate the supply of Ukrainian agricultural products to the European market.