WARSAW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th April, 2023) Polish Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Henryk Kowalczyk tendered his resignation on Wednesday over an unresolved problem with the duty-free import of Ukrainian grain.
"One of the provisions of the agreement with farmers was an obligation for Polish government to appeal to the European Commission with the request to revoke the duty-free imports of the grain from Ukraine. Such application was submitted on May 31 by the governments of Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria. However, the European Commission published a project to renew the free grain import from Ukraine for another year, until June 5, 2024 ... Since the Primary farmers' demand will not be fulfilled, I have decided to resign. I wish my successor good luck," Kowalczyk told reporters.
Earlier in the day, Kowalczyk stated that Poland would start paying for Ukrainian grain with money from government accounts in order to cope with its influx. Poland also expects the European Union to allocate financial aid to help deal with the Ukrainian grain problem, he added.
In June 2022, the European Union suspended the collection of duties on all goods coming from conflict-hit Ukraine for one year in order to help Kiev increase its exports.
Since early February 2023, several Polish farmer organizations, including conservative political AGROunia movement, protested against the increased imports of Ukrainian grain flooding the Polish market at lower prices and damaging local production, despite the government's previous assurances that the grain would be re-exported elsewhere. According to the official Polish data, around 2 million tonnes of grain have been imported there from Ukraine over the past year.
On March 30, former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Marek Sawicki said that Poland had no choice other than to block the import from Ukraine completely.
