Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, upon visiting Warsaw on Wednesday, said that “there must not be problems between such close partners and friends as Poland and Ukraine.” His words were in response to the issue of Ukrainian grain, which instead of being transferred to the developing world has ended up flooding the Polish market.
He claimed that together with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, a solution to the problem had been found that would help both Polish and Ukrainian farmers, but no details of that solution have yet been publicly disclosed.
The fall in the price of grain in Poland has led to protests by farmers, who are up in arms over the uncontrolled inflow of grain from Ukraine as a result of an EU decision to lift any controls back in June 2022. Last week, the Polish government and farmers came to an agreement, with the Polish government promising actions that would limit the flow of cheap Ukrainian grain into Polish markets.
However, the conflict between the government and farmers isn’t over, and on Wednesday, Agriculture Minister Henryk Kowalczyk tendered his resignation. He said that he decided to resign after the European Commission had failed to stop the imports of Ukrainian grain despite the position taken by Central and Eastern European member states.
The ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government is politically dominant in rural areas and wants to appease the farmers ahead of the election. It has promised that it would clear warehouses of grain to prepare for this year’s summer harvest.
In a separate development, Zelensky and the Polish prime minister signed a letter of intent to jointly produce arms and ammunition.
