WARSAW (Reuters) – The Polish Farmers’ Solidarity union is joining the European protest movement by calling for a general strike from February 9 and plans to block border crossings between Poland and Ukraine.
Farmers in France, Belgium, Portugal, Greece and Germany denounce the impact on agriculture of the measures taken by the European Union to fight climate change, as well as the opening to cheap Ukrainian imports intended to support the war effort against Russia.
“Our patience is running out. Brussels’ position (…) is unacceptable for our entire agricultural community,” explains the union in a press release dated Thursday.
“Moreover, the passivity of the Polish authorities and the declarations of cooperation with the European Commission (…) regarding the importation of agricultural and food products from Ukraine leave us with no other choice than to call a strike general.”
Solidarity said that in addition to blocking crossing points with Ukraine, it planned occasional road blockages across the country between February 9 and March 10.
Poland’s Agriculture Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Report by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk, French version by Dagmarah Mackos, edited by Sophie Louet)
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