Polish farmers block two border crossings with Germany

WARSAW (Reuters): Polish farmers blocked two border crossings with Germany on Monday, local police said, as protests against European Union environmental regulations and cheap imports sweep the bloc.

Farmers in Poland and across the EU have been calling for changes to restrictions placed on them by the EU’s Green Deal plan to tackle climate change, and for the re-imposition of customs duties on imports of agricultural products from Ukraine that were waived after Russia’s invasion in 2022.

The European Commission on Friday offered concessions to farmers as it proposed an easing of a series of rules on leaving land fallow or rotating crops.

On Monday, farmers blocked the Swiecko and Gubinek border crossings with Germany. A local police spokesperson said that the blockades started on Sunday and were scheduled to continue until Wednesday.

“Traffic in Swiecko and Gubinek is blocked, you cannot travel in either direction,” said Marcin Maludy, a spokesperson for the police in nearby Gorzow Wielkopolski.

Maludy said that the only possibility for trucks in the Lubusz region travelling to Germany was to go to Olszyn whereas cars could go through the remaining crossings in the region.

Polish farmers are planning mass protests across the country on Wednesday, keeping up pressure on officials to act on their demands. They have a particular grievance because of increased competition from neighbouring non-EU Ukraine’s farmers, who they accuse of flooding EU markets with cheap imports that leave them unable to compete.