Warsaw announces list of Ukrainian agricultural products it wants to ban

MOSCOW. Feb 26 (Interfax) - Poland seeks to reach a bilateral agreement with Ukraine, which could replace the current national embargo on grain crops, and protect the Polish market from other sensitive products such as sugar, poultry meat, eggs, frozen raspberries, apple juice, sunflower oil and rapeseed oil, Polish Agriculture Minister Czeslaw Siekierski said at a parliamentary hearing in the Sejm last Thursday.

"Due to the excessive opening of the European Union to the inflow of goods from Ukraine, Polish farmers have incurred the largest losses. There is no doubt that Ukraine needs to be aided, but the opening (of the European market) for imports of agricultural products to the EU cannot be as it is now, because farmers in Poland and other EU countries will fail to withstand competition," Ukrainian media quoted him as saying in a statement released by the Polish Agriculture Ministry on social media.

Siekierski emphasized that Warsaw wants to impose substantial restrictions on the influx of sensitive goods from Ukraine, including detailed and even restrictive controls at the border.

He noted that Polish farmers are currently fairly expressing their stance in a situation in which Polish agricultural sector has found itself. Among the main reasons for the protests, Siekierski named unfounded requirements set by the European Commission's Green Deal, excessive inflow of agricultural products from Ukraine to the Polish market and falling profitability of agricultural production.

"Our common goal is a strong Polish and European agriculture, which is capable of protecting itself from unfair competition and decisions that do not take the specifics of agricultural production into account," he said.

Siekierski is convinced that the European Commission should understand the protesting farmers and realize that any changes (to European policy) must be fair. Proposals on climate and environmental change should be transparent, rational and drawn up in close cooperation with farmers.