Polish govt in talks with farmers to unblock Ukrainian border - Duda

MOSCOW. Feb 21 (Interfax) - The Polish government is in talks with farmers and trade unions to unblock the traffic across the Ukrainian-Polish border, Ukrainian media cited Polish President Andrzej Duda as telling Radio Ukraine in an interview.

"I know that the Polish government is in talks with farmers and trade unions in order to unblock the border, to make this possible. The border blockade is not a decision of the Polish government, this is not a decision of any power branch. The decision has been made by farmers, farmer organizations," Duda said.

"As of now, we can say that the protests have spread almost throughout the European Union. In simple words, farmers are afraid of a huge influx of Ukrainian agricultural products into the markets of the European Union. [...] They demand that the European Union resolve this issue at the level of Brussels. Negotiations on the matter are ongoing," Duda said.

Poland is a democracy where the right to protest is guaranteed by the constitution, which means protests are tolerated and protected, Duda said. The Polish authorities could not deny approval to the applications for farmer protests because "they have to operate on the basis and within the framework of current laws," he said.

As to how the problem could be resolved, Duda recalled the recent protests of truckers, trucker trade unions and the Association of Road Carriers and said that the protests were stopped through negotiations with the authorities and the trilateral agreements between Poland, Ukraine, and truckers.

Duda said he was hoping that the farmer protest situation could be resolved peacefully, through negotiations.