In the first half of next year, the Polish presidency of the EU will have its own proposals for changes to the EU’s trade cooperation with Ukraine. Polish Agriculture Minister Czeslaw Siekierski said this during a meeting with Polish farmers in Bialystok (north-east Poland) on July 18 at the office of the Voivode of Podlaskie Voivodeship.
“We want to present our proposals related to the further revision of the Green Deal, as well as the principles of cooperation between the EU and Ukraine, mainly on issues related to trade liberalisation, because we know what great opportunities and potential Ukrainian agriculture has. We also want to influence the EU’s negotiations with Ukraine on current issues and Ukraine’s future integration into the EU,” said Sekierski, drawing attention to the peculiarities of the Polish presidency in the EU in the first half of next year.
During the meeting, the parties discussed the recently signed memorandum between the Polish Dairy Chamber and the Association of Milk Producers in Ukraine, as well as the risks associated with it.
Marek Sinilo, Deputy Chairman of the Podlaskie Chamber of Agriculture, noted that the region, which was known in Poland for its dairy production, was afraid of competition with the rapidly developing dairy industry in Ukraine, which had cheaper raw materials. He also stressed that Polish farmers exporting their products to Ukraine could lose the Ukrainian market in a few years. According to him, this would be a “severe blow” to the Polish dairy industry.
In this context, Minister Sekierski stressed that Poland was “doomed to cooperation, rivalry and competition” with Ukraine. He added that it would be bad if this cooperation did not exist.
“Therefore, we believe that processing should be developed on the basis of Ukrainian raw materials. We have to do it together and, together with the Ukrainian government, we will take such measures to guarantee a certain security of agricultural processing activities based on Ukrainian and Polish raw materials and then export them outside the EU,” the Polish agriculture minister said.
Poland has blocked imports of wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower from Ukraine to the Polish market since April 2023. Last year, from May to September, this ban was introduced by a decision of the European Commission, and later Warsaw extended it unilaterally. From February to April, Polish farmers blocked checkpoints on the border with Ukraine, demanding a ban on the export of Ukrainian grain and some other agricultural products to the Polish market. (Ukrinform)