Poland has complained to the EU about agricultural imports from Ukraine: they are asking to protect European farmers

On Monday, January 26, at the request of Poland, as well as Hungary, Slovakia and Austria, the EU Council on Agriculture will consider the issue of the free trade agreement with Ukraine and the need for further protection of the EU agricultural market from Ukrainian agricultural imports.

Source: correspondent of “European Truth” from Brussels, with reference to the letter submitted by Poland to the EU Council on January 22, 2026, and the agenda of the EU Council on agriculture

Details: Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Austria demand to protect European farmers from the negative impact of imports of Ukrainian agricultural products.

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According to “European Truth”, this issue will be considered at the meeting of the EU Council on Agriculture on January 26 after 16:00 Kyiv time.

“In the context of free trade agreements…Austria, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia would like to emphasize issues that we believe are crucial and which have not been fully taken into account in the recently concluded agreements of great importance for the agricultural sector, namely the agreements with Mercosur and Ukraine,” the document reads.

In particular, the “four” states insist on the implementation of tougher protective instruments to support European farmers.

Key claims and demands regarding Ukraine:

Inadequacy of protective mechanisms: The signatories note that the provisions of the current agreement with Ukraine (based on Article 29 of the Association Agreement) do not fully meet the needs of the agricultural sector. In particular, the existing safeguards apply only to newly granted preferences and do not cover most agricultural products for which preferences were previously established.

Unification of standards: The four countries require that the same standards apply to Ukrainian imports as to EU producers. This applies not only to food safety, but also to animal welfare standards, the use of pesticides, antibiotics and climate standards. Before the implementation of such rules, the countries call on the EU to refrain from further liberalization of tariffs.

Sensitive sectors: Concerns are expressed about the impact of the agreement with Ukraine on such “sensitive” sectors as the production of sugar, meat, cereals, dairy products, vegetables and fruits.

Compensation fund: Poland and partner states insist on the creation of a special fund to compensate European farmers for losses arising from free trade agreements with major exporters of agricultural products, including Ukraine.

As “European Truth” reported, the State Customs Service previously reported that on January 23, Polish farmers are planning to start a strike in front of the checkpoint “Dolgobichyv – Ughryniv”. In this way, Polish farmers will protest against the non-competitive, in their opinion, conditions for the import of Ukrainian agricultural products to Poland, as well as against the signed trade agreement between the EU and the countries of South America.

We will remind, Polish farmers also on November 23 began to protest in Medyka in front of the border with Ukraine.

We will remind, on October 13, EU states accepted the terms of a new trade agreement with Ukraine, which should replace the “visa-free trade” which expired in June 2025.

Read also: The new trade agreement with the EU: what additional risks it carries for Ukrainian farmers.

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