ZAKRET
\nPolish farmers on Wednesday blocked roads nationwide in a new protest against farm imports from outside the European Union, in particular Ukraine, and environmental regulations that they say increases costs.
\nThe farmers have been blocking border crossings with Ukraine since last month to protest lower cost produce that has been allowed into the EU since Russia\u2019s invasion of the neighboring country.
\nA demonstration in Warsaw this month by thousands of farmers degenerated into clashes with police.
\nPolish police said that more than 580 protests involving 70,000 people were planned Wednesday.
\nFarmers targeted roads into Warsaw and other big cities including Wroclaw, Poznan and Bydgoszcz.
\nFifty-seven year old farmer Slawomir Miesak said protesters wanted the \u201cthe abolishment\u201d of the European Union\u2019s \u201cGreen Deal\u201d policies aimed at helping the bloc meet its climate goals.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s the priority. And we also want the closure of the border\u201d with Ukraine, he told AFP in Zakret outside of Warsaw.
\nFellow protester Przemyslaw Galazka, 33, said the agriculture industry needed more money.
\n\u201cHow long can we produce at a loss? The past two years have been difficult but the price of grain remained more or less stable, whereas now every farmer is asking himself whether it makes sense to go out in the fields and sow,\u201d he told AFP.
\nSome protesters stalled traffic at the Ukraine frontier, briefly blocking buses waiting at the Medyka border crossing, which led to new frictions between the neighbors.
\nUkraine\u2019s infrastructure minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said the passengers had been \u201cheld hostage in the political confrontations.\u201d
\nBut Polish authorities said they had ensured the free flow of buses through the border.
\nInterior ministry spokeswoman Paulina Klimek told the PAP news agency that \u201cpolice intervene to clear the crossing\u201d whenever farmers attempt to block the frontier.
\nUkraine\u2019s agriculture sector has been crippled by Russia\u2019s 2022 invasion, with many export routes through the Black Sea blocked and swaths of farmland rendered unusable by the conflict.
\nTo help Kyiv, the European Union scrapped tariffs on Ukrainian goods transiting the 27-nation bloc by road.
\nBut logistical problems mean large amounts of Ukrainian cereal exports destined for non-EU countries have accumulated in Poland, undercutting local producers.
\nOn Wednesday, EU member states and lawmakers reached a deal to cap duty-free imports of some Ukrainian grains in response to the farmers\u2019 complaints.
\nPoland\u2019s Agriculture Minister Czeslaw Siekierski signed a preliminary agreement with farm groups on Tuesday on planned subsidies, regulating trade relations with Ukraine and other provisions.
\nBut farmers still went ahead with the blockades.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a small glimmer of hope that something will finally happen,\u201d said Roman Kondrow, one of the farming representatives who signed the document.
\nHe told AFP that two key problems remain: wheat not suited for food production and should not be passing through the border, and up to five million tons of surplus grain that should be removed from Poland.
\nThe border blockades and grain dispute have strained ties between Warsaw and Kyiv, even as Poland has shown its neighbor staunch support over Russia\u2019s invasion.
\nFarmers in other European countries have also protested over the Ukraine grain and EU regulations.
\nOn Wednesday, hundreds of tractor drivers carried out a slow-drive protest across the Czech Republic, and farmers blocked the Strazny border crossing with Germany for an hour.
\nThe EU has proposed revamping subsidies in its Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), in a bid to ease the rural anger. The proposed changes are being negotiated between EU member states and the European Parliament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ZAKRET Polish farmers on Wednesday blocked roads nationwide in a new protest against farm imports from outside the European Union, in particular Ukraine, and environmental regulations that they say increases costs. The farmers have been blocking border crossings with Ukraine since last month to protest lower cost produce that has been allowed into the EU […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395257,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-395234","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n