Poland says Ukraine’s privileged access to EU food markets should end

WARSAW

Ukraine’s access to EU food markets should end, Poland’s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told reporters Wednesday in Warsaw.

“When Putin blocked Ukrainian exports through the Black Sea, Ukraine was temporarily admitted to the EU’s single market. Now that it has regained access to the sea, and thus to its previous sales markets, the time of this privilege is slowly passing,” said Sikorski.

Polish Agriculture Minister Czeslaw Siekierski met his Ukrainian counterpart, Mykola Solskyi, in Warsaw on Wednesday, ahead of government meetings between the two countries Thursday.

Siekierski admitted that bilateral talks with Ukraine on food trade have been difficult, according to the Polish state news agency, PAP.

It reported that Poland and Ukraine are nearing an agreement on agricultural imports.

“We are close to solving these problems together in dialogue,” Krzysztof Paszyk, the leader of the parliamentary party of the Polish People’s Party (PSL), part of Poland’s ruling coalition, told PAP.

“Poland supports Ukraine strategically in its European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations and in its resistance in the fight against Russian imperialism, which does not mean that there are no problems in bilateral relations, as happens between neighbors and those who have a lot of history between them,” said Sikorski.

“We all know that there are certain challenges in the field of agriculture and road transport, we are trying to solve them so that Poles are aware that Polish interests are secured, but so that Ukraine can continue to fight,” he said.

Sikorski emphasized that “military and humanitarian aid continues to reach Ukraine without any obstacles.”

Poland has faced weeks-long protests by farmers blockading the Ukrainian border, demanding the reimposition of customs duties on Ukrainian agricultural imports that were waived after Russia’s “special military operation” in early 2022.

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