Poland plans to ask the EU to impose sanctions on Russian and Belarusian agricultural products and foodstuffs, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said at a joint press conference in Vilnius with his Lithuanian counterpart Ingrida Szimonyte on March 4.
Tusk said the measure would ensure "effective protection of the European and Polish agricultural and food markets," as quoted by Euractiv.
Polish farmers launched a new wave of protests at Ukraine's border in early February in opposition to the European Commission's Green Deal policies and Ukrainian agricultural imports to the EU, claiming that Ukrainian imports create unfair competition.
Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal described the border blockade as "senseless" during a press conference in Kyiv on March 4, since "Ukraine has not exported wheat, corn, or sunflower seeds to Poland since September of last year."
A ban on Russian agricultural exports to the EU was proposed as part of the Ukrainian government's five-step plan to solve the blockade, published on Feb. 23.
Tusk said that he will ask the speaker of the Sejm, Poland's parliament, to draft a resolution that calls for the European Commission "to impose full sanctions on Russian and Belarusian agricultural and food products."
Latvia decided to ban imports of grain and other foodstuffs from Russia and Belarus in February, making it the first EU country to take this measure.
Latvia's Agriculture Minister Armands Krauze warned on Feb. 26 in Brussels that the law is "not effective" without an EU-wide ban, as it does not apply to goods transiting to other EU member states or third countries.
(Updated: )
