Minister of Agriculture of Poland Czeslaw Siekerski and Polish farmers – representatives of the association “Oszukana wieś”, who have been blocking the “Medyka” PE since November 23, signed an agreement that will allow the specified crossing point to be unblocked for the period necessary for “the introduction of the necessary legal and regulatory changes”. Medyka blockage ended but Polish carriers continue to block other border crossings, where more than 2,000 trucks are currently standing in queues. Thus, as of January 5, 1,400 trucks remained in queues heading for Ukraine at the Rava-Ruska-Hrebene, Krakivec-Korchova, and Yagodyn-Dorohusk checkpoints, Graintrade reports.
The Polish authorities have agreed to meet all the demands of farmers:
- providing subsidies to corn producers in the amount of 1 million zlotys,
- increasing the volume of loans to ensure liquidity to 2.5 billion zlotys,
- keeping the agricultural tax at the level of 2023.
In an interview with Polsat News, Minister Sekersky said that “the agreement will not be the end of the dialogue with farmers, and it will continue until the difficult situations in agriculture are resolved. Currently, the demands of agrarians are taken into account in our proposals for the budget for 2024, which is being considered by the Seimas. I am convinced that the items on corn subsidies and loans will be accepted. At the same time, we are working on the preparation of changes to the legislation that will allow local self-government bodies to exempt farmers from the increase in the agricultural tax.” For this, local self-government bodies will receive compensation from the budget in 2025.