Hungarian farmers are protesting near border with Ukraine
Hungarian farmers have organised a protest near the Záhony checkpoint on the border with Ukraine, opposing the European Commission's decision to extend duty-free imports of Ukrainian products for another year.
As reported by Hungarian business outlet Világgazdaság, tractors and various types of agricultural machinery stretched for hundreds of metres near the Hungarian-Ukrainian border.
The demonstration was organised by the Association of Farming Cooperatives in Hungary (Magosz) and the National Chamber of Agriculture, which consider the European Commission's decision unacceptable.
Hungarian farmers insist that products coming from outside the European Union should be subject to the same rules as EU farmers, and Brussels should protect the interests of its own farmers "rather than trying to destroy the European countryside with its measures".
The protesters also said that Ukraine exported GMO foods and they opposed this. They are convinced that "Ukraine can destroy European agriculture" and that many food producers and processors in the EU could go bankrupt due to the supply of Ukrainian goods.
On Friday, traffic through the Medyka-Shehyni, Hrebenne-Rava-Ruska and Dorohusk-Yahodyn checkpoints was hampered because of the protests of Polish farmers.
Formally, the reason for the blockade was the European Commission's decision to extend the full opening of the EU market to Ukrainian products, including agricultural ones, for another year.