Thousands of Polish farmers Friday staged blockades at 250 locations and blocked border crossings into Ukraine to protest European Union climate change measures and the flow of agricultural goods into the country.
Polish media and video on social media showed long lines of tractors at several border crossings with Ukraine and on highways around cities throughout the country. The nation’s Polsat news channel reported that police in Warsaw issued traffic warnings for much of the nation, particularly at the Ukraine border.
In Poznan, about 300 kilometers (186 miles) west of Warsaw, farmers parked about 1,000 tractors in front of the regional government offices.
Poland’s farmers union said Friday’s actions kick off a monthlong general strike.
The Polish farmers join a wider series of protests by their counterparts around Europe in recent weeks, including in Germany, France, Romania, Greece, Lithuania, Belgium and Latvia.
While Poland joins farmers from those nations in protesting the EU-imposed environmental regulations, Poland’s farmers union and agricultural leaders say they have been hurt in particular by the flow of cheaper goods coming into the country from Ukraine, creating unfair competition.
In an interview with Polsat this week, Poland’s Agriculture Minister Czesław Siekierski said the striking farmers have legitimate complaints and are “protesting in the interest of all of us as consumers.”
The EU relaxed some tariffs and regulations regarding Ukraine’s agricultural products after Russia’s invasion in 2022. Siekierski said Poland has been in high-level talks with EU agricultural officials about the flow of goods from Ukraine.
Regarding the EU climate policy regulations, Siekierski said while the nation’s farmers have always cared about the environment, some of the EU requirements were so unreasonable, he compared them to guidelines issued when Poland was under communism.
Earlier this week, the EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, withdrew new pesticide regulations as a concession to the bloc’s striking farmers. The regulations would have cut pesticide use in half by 2030.
Speaking to the EU parliament in Strasbourg Tuesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said farmers deserved to be heard.
“Farmers need a worthwhile business case for nature-enhancing measures. Perhaps we have not made that case convincingly,” she said.
Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse