WARSAW (Reuters) – Polish Agriculture Minister Henryk Kowalczyk resigned from his post on Wednesday amid rising anger among farmers over the impact of Ukrainian grain imports on prices.
Kowalczyk said he decided to quit the position due to the European Commission’s decision to extend duty free imports for Ukrainain grain until June 2024. Polish farmers had called for the introduction of tariffs.
“As it is clear that this demand will not be met by the European Commission at this point, I decided to resign from the post of agriculture minister,” Kowalczk said.
Logistical bottlenecks mean large quantities of Ukrainian grains, which are cheaper than those produced in the European Union have ended up in Central European states, hitting prices and sales of local farmers and creating a headache for Poland’s ruling nationalists law and Justice (PiS) in an election year.
The prime ministers of five states including Poland wrote to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Friday to demand action on Ukrainian agricultural imports.
They said tariffs may have to be reintroduced if the influx of grain and other products from Ukraine cannot be stopped by other means.
(Reporting by Alan Charlish and Pawel Florkiewicz, Editing by Angus MacSwan)
