Poland is seeking a bilateral agreement with Ukraine that could replace the current national grain embargo and protect the Polish market from other sensitive products such as sugar, poultry, eggs, frozen raspberries, apple juice, sunflower oil and canola oil , Polish Agriculture Minister Czeslaw Sikerski said at a parliamentary hearing last Thursday.

"Due to the excessive opening of the European Union to the flow of goods from Ukraine, Polish farmers suffered the greatest losses. There is no doubt that Ukraine should be helped, but the opening of the European market for agricultural imports into the EU cannot be as it is now, because farmers in Poland and other EU countries will not be able to withstand the competition," he was quoted as saying Ukrainian media in a statement published by the Polish Ministry of Agriculture on social media.

Sikerski stressed that Warsaw wants to impose significant restrictions on the flow of sensitive goods from Ukraine, including detailed and even restrictive border controls.

He noted that Polish farmers are currently fairly expressing their position in the situation in which the Polish agricultural sector finds itself. Among the main reasons for the protests, he refers to the unfounded demands set by the European Commission's Green Deal, the excessive flow of agricultural products from Ukraine to the Polish market and the falling profitability of agricultural production.

"Our common goal is a strong Polish and European agriculture that is able to protect itself from unfair competition and decisions that do not take into account the specifics of agricultural production," he added.

Sikerski is convinced that the European Commission must understand the protesting farmers and realize that any change in European policy must be fair. Proposals related to climate change and the environment should be transparent, rational and prepared in close cooperation with agricultural producers.

The president of the country, Andrzej Duda, is of a similar opinion, noting that after the Polish authorities opened grain corridors for the transit of Ukrainian grain, the amount of agricultural products transported through Poland from Ukraine jumped 300 times.

Duda promised that Poland would continue to support Ukraine on its path to the European Union, but the problems of farmers are a separate issue that cannot be delayed.