On February 23, Prime Minister Denis Szmigal presented a plan for unblocking the Polish-Ukrainian border. It has five steps and is called the Rapport Plan.
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Currently, six checkpoints on the Ukrainian-Polish border are blocked due to protests by Polish farmers. The government came today to meet with Polish colleagues at the border, but there was no one from Warsaw. Today, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen arrived in Warsaw on a visit.
Denis Shmigal, after meetings at the border with Ukrainian drivers, said that Ukraine has developed and is offering Poland a plan for unblocking the border – the “Plan of Mutual Understanding.”
It consists of five steps.
Step #1
Ukraine agrees to the restrictions proposed by the European Commission on our agricultural exports. These are automatic protective measures presented as part of the European Commission’s decision proposing to continue duty-free trade between the EU and Ukraine. We are talking, in particular, about restrictions on poultry meat, eggs, and sugar.
Ukraine agrees with the proposal to export these goods to the EU without quotas and duties in volumes no greater than the average in 2022 and 2023. If you export more, the restrictions return.
We are ready to continue the verification mechanism for the export of grain, corn, sunflower and rapeseed. That is, without permission from Poland, these four groups of goods will not enter the Polish market.
Step #2
Ukraine is sending an appeal to the European Commission with a proposal to conduct urgent screening, that is, an analysis of clusters 4 and 5, which include agricultural policy and transport.
This is necessary in order to once and for all remove manipulations on the quality of our agricultural products, as well as whether the support for our farmers meets the standards of the World Trade Organization.
At the same time, Ukraine’s principled position is the complete liberalization of trade with the EU. This is a continuation of the economic visa-free regime.
Trade issues between Ukraine and the EU will be resolved with the EU, and not at the level of individual countries.
Step #3
We propose that the Polish government accept a joint appeal to the European Commission calling on it to stop Russian agricultural exports to the EU.
Over the 11 months of 2023, Russia sold €2.5 billion worth of agricultural products and food products to Europe. 5.1 million tons of food. For the whole of 2022 – 4.9 million tons. Russian food exports to the EU are growing during the war! This needs to be stopped! Ukraine and Poland can definitely replace these products.
We also appeal to the European Commission with two proposals:
- Consider additional restrictions and enhanced monitoring of agricultural imports from third countries to the EU, as is currently happening with Ukraine.
- We appeal to the launch of joint control at the border of Ukraine and EU countries. We also propose to expand the pilot project for the exchange of customs information.
Step #4
We propose to create a “Tripartite Headquarters: Ukraine, Poland, European Commission” under the co-chairmanship of the agricultural ministers of Ukraine, Poland and a representative of the European Commission. We will join Ukrainian and Polish agricultural associations in the work of this headquarters. We must work around the clock to quickly resolve any misunderstandings.
Step #5
The border blockade on the part of Poland has long gone beyond the grain blockade. Today this blockade threatens the national security of Ukraine.
We are grateful to the Polish government for its clear position on the passage of ammunition, military equipment, humanitarian aid, and medical supplies across the border. We believe that this approach should be extended to the fuel critically needed by Ukraine.
We congratulate Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s initiative to include border checkpoints with Ukraine and the corresponding sections of the railway into the list of critical infrastructure facilities.
For its part, the Ukrainian government also made appropriate decisions to recognize border checkpoints with our western neighbors as critical infrastructure.
At the same time, we hope that the joint trilateral headquarters will find a solution for the unimpeded passage of other groups of goods. After all, today there are more than 9 thousand trucks on the border on both sides.
The trilateral headquarters must work around the clock, and the issue of blocking the border must be resolved much earlier than March 28, the date when the joint meeting of the governments of Ukraine and Poland was supposed to take place.
Otherwise, Ukraine reserves the right to apply mirror measures at checkpoints, Shmygal said in a statement.
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.