One of the reasons is the EU trade agreement: Polish farmers held a protest at the border with Ukraine

Polish farmers held a protest on Friday, January 23, near the Dolhobyczów–Uhryniv border checkpoint, which borders Ukraine’s Lviv Region.

Media outlets reported this from the scene.

One of the strike participants said the goal of the protest was to stop MERCOSUR and to end imports of agricultural and food products from Ukraine into the European Union.

“This is corn, then wheat, sugar, vegetables, fruit, oils. Because we have these goods here, we have production. If you bring them to us, our farmers lose profits, because you have cheaper labor, you have cheaper products. And you don’t have such strict rules,” he said.

The 7th Border Guard Carpathian Detachment stated that the organizers did not have official permits to block traffic.

“The protest lasted an hour and a half; the road to the border was not blocked,” said Ukraine’s Consul General in Lublin, Oleh Kuts.

According to him, several dozen Polish farmers took part, and the protest took place in a peaceful atmosphere.

As previously reported, Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service had warned that on January 23 Polish farmers planned to begin a strike in front of the Dolhobyczów–Uhryniv checkpoint.

On January 9, Polish farmers protested in Warsaw against the free trade agreement between the European Union and the South American bloc MERCOSUR.

On January 10, European Union countries approved a trade agreement with the South American MERCOSUR bloc, which had earlier triggered mass protests by farmers in a number of EU states.

MERCOSUR is the largest integration bloc in South America. Its members are Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

Venezuela’s membership was suspended in 2016. The union covers more than 295 million people and a territory of about 14.8 million square kilometers.

On the eve of the decision, farmers in France staged large-scale protests against the MERCOSUR agreement.

The trade deal between the EU and the South American MERCOSUR bloc became a reason for renewed blockades of the Ukrainian border on November 23–24, 2024.