Tusk says he won't close Polish border at meeting with farmers
Donald Tusk, Prime Minister of Poland (photo: Getty Images)
At a meeting with Polish farmers, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he would not close the Polish border to goods from outside the EU.
Today the Polish government met with the leaders of the farmers' protests. The meeting ended without result, as no agreement was reached.
One of the leaders of the farmers' protests, Andrzej Sobocinski, who participated in the meeting, told the publication that the conversation with the government was about "trifles", and Prime Minister Tusk told the farmers that his hands were "tied", but promised to try to convince the European Commission to make concessions on the so-called "Green Deal".
"As for the border, he said he would not close the border. He would rather remove the excess grain from the Polish market... This would be a certain solution to the problem because it would allow farmers to empty their warehouses and harvest a new crop," Sobocinski said.
Blockade on the border with Poland
Polish farmers are blocking truck traffic on the border with Ukraine. Farmers oppose the transit of Ukrainian grain through Poland because they believe it can remain on the Polish market.
In addition, Polish farmers are using the blockade of the border with Ukraine, which is at war with Russia, to put pressure on their own government and the European Commission to obtain concessions on the so-called Green Deal.
Recently, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that Warsaw and Kyiv were allegedly discussing the possibility of temporarily closing the common border to trade. However, Ukraine has denied discussing such an issue.
In addition, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal offered Poland a plan to resolve the border crisis. And President Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized that Ukraine would protect its business if the crisis on the border with Poland could not be resolved.
