Czech, Slovak and other EU farmers join border protest, some Czech checkpoints blocked: Details
Photo: Farmers from some EU countries staged protests on the border with Czechia (Getty Images)
Farmers from Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, and other EU countries on Thursday, February 22, staged protests along the Czech borders, blocking some checkpoints. They demand a reduction in bureaucracy and changes in the policy of the European Union, reports Reuters
As noted by the agency, this year farmers across Europe, including in Poland, France, Germany, Spain and Italy, have stepped up protests, complaining about low prices and high costs, cheap imports and restrictions related to the EU's climate change initiative Green Deal.
The Agrarian Chamber of the Czech Republic reported that 3,000 tractors are participating in protests across the Czech Republic. In addition, today farmers from Hungary, Germany, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia joined the protests along with their Czech and Slovak counterparts.
In particular, farmers blocked the Hodonin-Holic checkpoint on the southern border of Czechia with Slovakia for more than an hour. Hundreds of tractors were lined up along the highway.
Protesters, including those from Hungary, who arrived by bus, waved national flags and held placards with the inscriptions "Stop bureaucracy" and "Stop Ukrainian grain".
Also, Czech and Polish farmers partially blocked the crossing in the north-east of Czechia, where dozens of tractors were parked along the road.
One of the Slovak farmers said that the sector faces "a hundred million problems" that harm its competitiveness, the biggest of which is bureaucracy.
Blockade of Ukrainian-Polish border
In February protests resumed on the Polish-Ukrainian border. Crossing points are blocked by farmers, and recently they announced a "total blockade" of the border and also began to dump Ukrainian grain.
Yesterday, February 21, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a conference on the situation at the border and then invited the President of Poland Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Donald Tusk to meet at the border.
Today, the Prime Minister of Poland announced that the meeting of the governments of both countries will be held on March 28 in Warsaw.
