Czech farmers to join protest and border blockade

Czech farmers will join an international protest by Central and Eastern European agricultural organisations next week, frustrated by EU agricultural policies and imports of cheaper products from Ukraine.

Source: European Pravda with reference to Czech media outlet Novinky

Details: As part of the large-scale protest, due to take place on 22 February, they will organise marches to border crossings, where they will meet farmers from other countries. 

Prior to that, some farmers are going to drive their heavy machinery to Prague on Monday, 19 February, where they intend to block the road.

Barbora Pánková, spokesperson for Czechia’s Agrarian Chamber, says it is impossible to predict how many tractors and other heavy machinery will be heading to the border. "We cannot rule out that border crossings and roads will be blocked," she said.

Representatives of agricultural organisations from Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania and Latvia discussed issues related to EU policies and their impact on agriculture with European Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski on Monday and Tuesday.

They conveyed their demands to the European Commissioner. These include compensation for farmers for complying with new environmental regulations, less bureaucracy and more transparency in the subsidy system, and better regulation of Ukrainian goods going to the EU market.

"Only by coordinating our demands and acting together do we have a chance of drawing attention to the desperate situation that European agriculture is currently facing and putting pressure on European and Czech politicians," said Jan Doležal, President of the Czech Agrarian Chamber. 

Doležal said that unless the European Commission comes up with a plan to solve these problems, the border protests may be repeated.

Polish farmers warned on Tuesday that starting from 20 February, they will block all border crossings between Poland and Ukraine, as well as access roads to railway transshipment stations and seaports.

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