We want to help Ukraine but without harming entire sectors – Polish PM

Tuesday, 27 February 2024

Donald Tusk, Prime Minister of Poland, has repeated his position that the agreements on trade with Ukraine must take the interests of Polish agrarians into consideration, and criticised the EU policy of the European Green Deal in this sector.

"We want to help Ukraine. This is an undeniable fact but this can be implemented in ways that are not deadly to entire economic sectors," Tusk stated on the sidelines of the meeting of the leaders of the Visegrád Group in Prague.

Tusk noted that Poland will continue working on the changes of the conditions of free trade with Ukraine.

"We must also look at the interests of large population groups of our economy. We share a viewpoint that we must have a common position in Brussels in order to guarantee that our assistance for Ukraine will not cause losses to our economy, especially our agricultural sector," Tusk explained.

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Tusk criticised the part of the European Green Deal on the agricultural sector, remarking that climate goals cannot be doubted but some aspects of the new rules create too much of a burden, especially for medium and small farmings.

Tusk also stated on 27 February that the EU must bring back pre-war rules of food trade with Ukraine.

At a press conference on 25 February, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed hope that the issues with Poland would be settled through negotiations on the level of prime ministers but promised to protect Ukrainian business in case this did not happen.

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