Anger of Polish farmers: Warsaw opens investigation after destruction of Ukrainian grain
Kiev denounced an “
unacceptable
” incident after the dumping of Ukrainian grain by Polish farmers on Sunday at the border. Warsaw opened an investigation this Monday, February 12.
Polish farmers are protesting across the country against Ukrainian imports and the European Green Deal. Here on February 9, 2024. AP - Czarek Sokolowski
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Tension rose a notch on the border between Poland and Ukraine on Sunday February 11. As Polish farmers demonstrate across the country against Ukrainian imports they perceive as unfair and the European Green Deal, this time they overturned the cargo of a Ukrainian truck to demonstrate their anger. Images shared on social media show piles of grain, sometimes covered with an EU flag, in the middle of a road.
This unprecedented action sparked strong reactions in Ukraine, a country with a strong agricultural tradition that has been facing the Russian invasion for two years. “
The deterioration of Ukrainian cereals on the Polish border is unacceptable
,” criticized the head of Ukrainian diplomacy, Dmytro Kouleba, on X (ex-Twitter). The Ukrainian Ministry of Agrarian Policy declared in a press release “strongly denounce” the “
deliberate destruction
” of grain which “
has nothing to do with peaceful protests
”. “
We are closely following the investigation into this incident and hope that the perpetrators will be quickly identified and punished
,” he added.
The Polish prosecutor's office announced this Monday that it had “
opened an investigation
”. The Lublin prosecutor's office specified that those responsible for the incident could risk up to “
five years in prison
”.
Poland has been among Ukraine's biggest supporters since the Russian invasion, but friction over Warsaw's unilateral ban on grain imports has damaged relations between the allies. In recent days, Polish authorities have raised the possibility of imposing new import bans on Ukrainian agricultural products to protect their farmers. Poland had banned imports of Ukrainian grain under the previous nationalist PiS government, but maintained the ban after a new pro-EU coalition came to power in October 2023.
The European Commission indicated this Monday that it would “
continue
” to seek “
solutions
” which would make it possible to preserve “
maximum economic support for Ukraine
”, ravaged by two years of war.
(
With
AFP)
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