WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s authorities mentioned Saturday that it has determined to quickly prohibit grain and different meals imports from Ukraine because it seeks to assuage the rising anger of Polish farmers, who say they’re shedding enormous quantities of cash to a glut of Ukrainian grain available on the market.
Ruling get together chief Jarosław Kaczyński mentioned at a celebration conference in jap Poland that the Polish countryside is dealing with a “moment of crisis,” and that whereas Poland helps Ukraine, it was pressured to behave to guard its farmers.
“Today, the government has decided on a regulation that prohibits the importation of grain, but also dozens of other types of food, to Poland,” Kaczyński mentioned.
The authorities introduced that the ban on imports would final till June 30. The regulation additionally features a prohibition on imports of sugar, eggs, meat, milk and different dairy merchandise and fruit and veggies.
Farmers in neighboring international locations have additionally complained about Ukrainian grain flooding their international locations and making a glut that has prompted costs to fall – and inflicting them to take steep losses.
“The increasing imports of agricultural products from Ukraine cause serious disturbances in the markets of our countries, great damage to producers and social unrest,” the Polish agriculture minister, Robert Telus, instructed his counterparts from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary this week. All are members of the European Union and he mentioned the bloc ought to take pressing motion on the matter.
“We cannot accept a situation where the entire burden of dealing with increased imports rests mainly with farmers from our countries,” Telus mentioned.
The state of affairs is the results of Russia’s conflict towards Ukraine. After Russia blocked conventional export sea passages, the European Union lifted duties on Ukrainian grain to facilitate its transport to Africa and the Middle East.
Grain has since flowed into Poland however a lot of its has not transited additional on to the Middle East and Northern Africa, because it was meant to beneath the EU plan.
Poland’s authorities has sought responsible the EU for the state of affairs. But some unions and opposition politicians accuse government-linked corporations of inflicting the issue by shopping for up low-cost, low-quality Ukrainian grain, after which promoting it to bread and pasta vegetation as high-quality Polish produce.
Tomasz Obszański, of the farmers’ Solidarity union, mentioned that about 3 million tons of grain meant for Africa had been obtained by merchants as soon as the grain arrived in Poland, and he alleged that some corporations have made enormous cash off the state of affairs.
The chief of the protesting farmers and head of the AgroUnia group, Michał Kołodziejczak, estimated farmers’ losses at as much as 10 billion zlotys ($2.3 billion).
The rising anger of the farmers comes forward of an election within the fall and is a headache for the ruling conservative Law and Justice get together because it seeks a 3rd time period. Polls present that it’s the hottest get together within the nation however might fall wanting a majority within the subsequent parliament.
It faces a specific problem from a far-right get together, Confederation, which mixes libertarian and nationalist views and which incorporates some members seen as sympathetic to Russia. The get together has grown to be the third-most well-liked get together in some polls.
Kaczyński on Saturday additionally introduced different measures meant to assist farmers, together with sustaining subsidies on fertilizer.
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