Three weeks before the Polish parliamentary elections, tensions between Warsaw and Kiev are escalating, triggered by the crisis in the trade in agricultural products. After Poland, along with Hungary and Slovakia, decided to unilaterally maintain the veto on Ukrainian grains and vegetables after the end of restrictions agreed with the EU on September 15, disagreements between the previously loyal allies are growing. This Wednesday, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced in an interview that his country, one of the main suppliers of weapons to the invaded neighbor, would stop sending these weapons to concentrate on modernizing its own arsenal.
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The reaction of the head of the ultra-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government confirms that the crisis between the two countries extends beyond the commercial sector. “We are not supplying weapons to Ukraine, we are now equipping Poland with the most modern weapons,” Morawiecki replied when asked whether military and humanitarian support for the neighboring country was in question. According to the Polish agency PAP, the country is only carrying out previously agreed deliveries, including those resulting from contracts with Ukraine, as government spokesman Piotr Müller explained.
This Thursday, Polish President Andrzej Duda tried to put Morawiecki’s statements into perspective. “They were interpreted in the worst sense… In my opinion, the prime minister meant that we will not send to Ukraine the new weapons that we are buying to modernize the Polish army,” Duda told Polish television channel TVN24.
Poland is the main logistics center for the distribution of military and humanitarian aid from other countries to Ukraine. Morawiecki assured that the military center in the city of Rzeszow in the southeast of the country would continue to function normally.
However, the government spokesman warned this week that the temporary protection program for Ukrainian refugees would expire in the coming months. And he left his renewal in the air. “These regulations will simply expire next year,” said the spokesman. Poland is home to around 1.3 million Ukrainians who have fled the war. After warmly welcoming this group when the conflict erupted, the government cut aid in response to growing voices questioning it.
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After weeks of protests by Polish farmers, the grain crisis broke out in April. The countryside and rural areas represent an important source of votes for the PiS, which will go to the polls on October 15 as the favorite but does not have a sufficient majority to form a government. Even further to his right, the ultra-Confederation party has risen in the polls with a speech opposing aid to Ukraine, potentially holding the key to the next government in Warsaw. The rising tensions between the countries this week come at a time in the election campaign when PiS is embroiled in a corruption scandal over the sale of around 250,000 Polish visas in countries in Asia and Africa.
Unilateral veto
Poland’s unilateral veto in April of imports of Ukrainian agricultural products, which overwhelmed the national market and drove down prices, was joined by other border countries such as Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. The European Union, which has the powers of the internal market, intervened by providing aid to farmers in these countries and signing an agreement to prevent the sale of these products in the affected countries in return for their continued transit through their territory made possible. This pact expired on September 15, when the Commission considered the crisis resolved.
Poland, Hungary and Slovakia announced that they would impose unilateral vetoes, contrary to European legislation. Ukraine denounced these countries at the World Trade Organization (WTO) last Monday and threatened to ban Polish products such as onions, tomatoes, cabbage and apples. Morawiecki warned that he would expand the list of banned Ukrainian products if Kiev escalates the conflict. Ukrainian diplomacy called on Poland to “put aside emotions” and take a “constructive” approach to this dispute.
The diplomatic conflict has become more visible and deeper in New York, where the UN General Assembly is taking place this week. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said from the podium in his speech to world leaders on Tuesday that “some in Europe are portraying solidarity in a political theater, turning cereal into a thriller.” “Although they seem to be playing their own roles , but they help set the stage for the Moscow actor,” he added. The Polish Foreign Ministry urgently summoned the Ukrainian ambassador in Warsaw to protest against these words.
In statements to Polish media in the same American city, President Duda compared Ukraine to a drowning man who endangers those who save him. “A drowning person is extremely dangerous, it can drag down the rescuer and drown him,” he said, adding: “We must act to protect ourselves from the harm that will be done to us, because if the drowning person … us drowned, then.” “We won’t be able to help her.”
Bratislava reached this Thursday an agreement on licenses with Ukraine that would lead to the end of the veto on grain imports and Kiev’s complaint to the WTO, but this body has not received any information about it. Ukraine assured that the Minister of Agriculture spoke with his Polish counterpart and both agreed to seek a solution to the dispute. “There is no one in Ukraine who is interested in causing problems for Polish farmers,” Ukrainian Ambassador to Warsaw Vasyl Swarych told the state agency PAP.
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