“On the morning of Saturday, November 23, Polish farmers went on strike in front of the “Medyka – Shegyny” checkpoint. Source: RMF24, “European Truth” Details: According to the co-organizer of the blockade, which began on the morning of November 23, the farmers are protesting for two reasons.”, — write: www.pravda.com.ua
On the morning of Saturday, November 23, Polish farmers went on strike in front of the “Medyka-Szehyny” checkpoint.
Source: RMF24, “European Truth”
Details: According to the co-organizer of the blockade, which began on the morning of November 23, the farmers are protesting for two reasons.
The first, as reported by journalists, is the failure to fulfill the requirement to maintain the level of the agricultural tax in 2024 at the level of 2023.
The second is “concerns about the signing by the European Union of a free trade agreement with the South American MERCOSUR countries (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay).
“We want to put pressure on those in power so that this agreement does not take place,” he said.
According to journalists, the farmers blocked the national road 28. At the pedestrian crossing, near the railway overpass at the entrance to Medyka, they do not allow trucks coming from Ukraine to pass.
On the other hand, trucks traveling from Poland to Ukraine pass only one per hour. Passenger cars, buses, humanitarian vehicles pass unhindered in both directions. Police say they will provide traffic on national roads 77 and 28, as well as routes within the city limits.
Regarding the demands of farmers, the spokesman of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Bartosz Gubernat, noted that a corresponding bill is being prepared to maintain the tax amount this year at the level of 2023.
“Due to a lack of funds in the state budget, the project was removed from the further procedure,” he said.
According to him, despite this, farmers who were affected by adverse weather events, such as hail or flood, in farms whose losses amounted to more than 30% of the average annual production of agricultural crops, could turn to the Agency for Restructuring and Modernization of Agriculture for help.
“It was equivalent to the sum of the third and fourth part of the agricultural tax,” Gubernat emphasized.
He also recalled that when it came to the EU’s free trade agreement with MERCOSUR countries, Prime Minister Donald Tusk and the government “made it clear that this agreement will not be signed.”
According to journalists, farmers say that if an agreement is not reached, they intend to protest around the clock until the end of the year.
On October 8, they wrote that Polish farmers are going to resume the blockade of the movement of goods across the border with Ukraine, as last year, and announced the first blockade of the “Medyka-Sheghini” checkpoint, which they want to keep until the end of the year.
The previous blockade of farmers, which lasted throughout the cold season, ended at the end of April 2024 – with the lifting of the last blockade at the “Grebenne – Rava-Ruska” checkpoint.