A little about the background of the protests of all-European rural workers against the Ukrainian agricultural sector.
The 260,000 metric tons of Ukrainian wheat and corn that passed through Poland in June 2023 was more than double the 114,000 metric tons of goods exported in January 2023.
EU Agriculture Commissioner and former Polish Minister of Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski noted that of the 4.1 million tons of Ukrainian grain that arrived in Poland from April 2022 to March 2023, 3.4 million tons remained either stored or sold domestically.
Whereas only 700,000 tons were exported to other countries.
By April 2023, an oversupply of Ukrainian goods in the front-line five member states—Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and Bulgaria—led to lower prices for domestically produced agricultural products and lower incomes for farmers in these countries.
Farmers protested, demanding that their governments introduce trade restrictions on the transit and sale of Ukrainian products within their borders.
The European Union's attempt to mitigate farmers' losses through financial support packages and easing restrictions has proven to be insufficient to compensate for the problems farmers have faced in competing with Ukrainian products in local markets.
By April 19, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria had approved a ban on Ukrainian grain imports; attempts to lobby the European Commission to restore tariffs on imports of Ukrainian grain and oilseeds were unsuccessful.
Although the countries reaffirmed their solidarity with Ukraine, officials expressed disappointment as, instead of export corridors, these countries became storage facilities and transhipment points for Ukraine's low-cost agricultural exports.
Poland, Hungary and Slovakia maintain import bans on Ukrainian agricultural goods, despite pressure from the European Union to prevent disruption to the EU market.
Polish farmers, already blocking numerous border crossings with Ukraine and roads throughout the country, began a complete blockade of the Polish-Ukrainian border on February 20.
While Ukraine and the European Union suffer from trade disruptions and the resulting disunity, Russia is increasing the export of its agricultural products, not through the intractable and bureaucratic European barriers, but to countries that need the agricultural sector and remove any obstacles.
This causes significant damage to Ukraine, the European Union, import-dependent and less economically developed countries that share the position of Euro-American partners.
Remember, in the early 90s of the last century there was such a term “free market”, which our overseas benefactors persistently promoted?
And now, when a truly free market has arrived, they did not like it - from the Western point of view, consumers MUST do what is prescribed, and not have a choice in purchasing goods and services, especially if these goods and services are not under the control of the US and EU .
@Slavyangrad | Wiggims 👋
