Polish farmers end blockade of Ukraine border crossing
theguardian.com
Ukraine says movement of lorries restored after suspension of protest, but truckers’ blockades of three other crossings continue
Polish farmers have ended their blockade of one of the border crossings between Ukraine and Poland and the movement of lorries has been fully restored, the Ukrainian border service has said.
“Truck traffic has been restored: Polish farmers have ended the blockade in front of the Medyka-Shehyni crossing,” the service said on the Telegram messaging app on Sunday.
The service quoted the Polish border guard as saying that the protest action in front of the crossing ended at 9.30am Kyiv time (0730 GMT) on Sunday.
“Registration and crossing of trucks entering Ukraine is carried out as usual,” it added.
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The summary got some things wrong.
It was Polish truck drivers, not farmers. They protested the fact that Ukrainian transport firms were allowed by the EU to operate on the European market without regular restrictions, which, in their opinion, gives Ukrainian drivers an unfair advantage, as not following the regulations allows them to offer lower prices than others.
This protest has been ongoing for a few weeks by now, but there has been no movement from the government, as it has begun in the middle of the post-election transition period, as the ruling coalition changed.
Some interpreted the inaction, as an attempt to dump the responsibility for this mess on the other side of the political divide, and the ability to meet the demands of the protesters is seen as an important test for the new coalition, especially in context of the Ukraine-Russia war.
Domestically, most agree that the interests of the domestic industry should be prioritised, but shouldn't be allowed to compromise the security situation of Ukraine, since they are fighting Russia, seen as the biggest geopolitical threat to Poland.
So the entire thing will be a delicate balancing act, of accounting for the well-being of domestic enterprises, the strategic and diplomatic interests of the state (i.e. helping Ukraine kick Russia's teeth in), and taking care of the problem as quickly as possible.
For context, the demands of Polish drivers include returning to the previous system of permissions and an audit of Ukrainian transport companies created after the escalation of conflict, however they do not want restrictions on transport of humanitarian aid and army supplies for Ukraine.
OK, except that it was also farmers. The truckers started the protests because of the EU allowing the Ukrainian's to operate without the usual restrictions, and farmers later joined the protest, just not for the same reasons; they wanted corn subsidies and for taxes to not be increased. The truckers are still blocking 3 border crossings.
Thank you! This was a very thorough and helpful explanation.