Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, has accused Warsaw of “unfriendly and populist” actions after Poland and four other eastern member states called on the European Union to extend their ban on Ukrainian grain imports.
However, his Polish counterpart, Mateusz Morawiecki, says that Kyiv has misunderstood the intentions of Poland, which is still committed to facilitating transit of Ukrainian grain through its territory while maintaining the import ban.
Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania have called on the EU to extend their ban on imports of Ukrainian grain
“We will not open this border. If the European Commission does not extend the ban, we'll do it ourselves,” says Poland's prime minister https://t.co/aDxX0MZzTU
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) July 19, 2023
“Russia has disrupted the grain initiative, destroying the infrastructure of our Black Sea ports and once again provoking a global food crisis,” tweeted Shmyhal, referring to Moscow’s decision to pull out of a deal allowing Ukrainian grain exports by sea.
“During this critical time, Poland intends to continue blocking the export of UA [Ukrainian] grain to the EU,” he continued. “This is an unfriendly and populist move that will severely impact global food security and Ukraine’s economy.”
The Ukrainian prime minister called on the European Commission and other partners “to ensure unimpeded export of all Ukrainian agriculture products to the EU…This is an act of solidarity not only with Ukraine but with the world, which relies on our grain.”
Russia has disrupted the grain initiative, destroying the infrastructure of our Black Sea ports and once again provoking a global food crisis.
During this critical time, Poland intends to continue blocking the export of UA grain to the EU. This is an unfriendly and populist move…— Denys Shmyhal (@Denys_Shmyhal) July 20, 2023
In response, Morawiecki suggested that his Ukrainian counterpart had misunderstood the intentions of the Polish government.
“We agreed and still agree on transit, and there is no problem with transit,” said Morawiecki at a press conference yesterday. “Not only will Poland not contribute to destabilisation on global markets, but we are actually helping to take Ukrainian grain abroad.”
Those remarks echoed the words of Polish agriculture minister Robert Telus earlier this week, who argued that banning the import of Ukrainian grain to eastern EU member states has actually improved transit through them to third countries.
The EU has reached an agreement to ban the import of Ukrainian grain to Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria while letting transit through those countries take place https://t.co/9D8VO1Cxkt
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) April 28, 2023
Morawiecki yesterday reiterated that Poland will assist in transit as much as it can. “But we will not allow our internal market to destabilise. This is what it is all about,” said Morawiecki. Polish farmers have previously protested that Ukrainian grain imports lowered prices on the market.
Meanwhile, Telus responded directly to Shmyhal’s tweet, offering to explain the Polish position at a meeting rather than on Twitter.
“Mr Prime Minister, it seems that either you do not know the truth or you are not telling the truth, I would be happy to explain it to you but I would prefer not to do it here but in a meeting,” he said.
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Main image credit: KPRM (under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 PL)
Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.
