WARSAW (Reuters) – Polish farmers will resume their blockade at the Medyka border crossing with Ukraine from Thursday as they say they have not received a signed assurance from the prime minister that their demands will be met, state-run news agency PAP reported.
The Polish farmers suspended their protest, which aims to secure government subsidies for corn and prevent tax hikes, on Dec. 24.
Polish truck drivers, however, have continued to block several crossings with Ukraine since Nov. 6, to press their demand that the European Union reinstate a system that requires Ukrainian companies to obtain permits to operate in the bloc. The same would apply to European truckers seeking to enter Ukraine.
“We have not received written confirmation that our demands will be met, so we are continuing the protest,” farmers leader Roman Kondrow told PAP.
Although Agriculture Minister Czeslaw Siekierski had provided a note telling the farmers their demands would be met, Prime Minister Donald Tusk has not given a signed declaration, Kondrow said.
He added they would only allow one truck per hour pass through the crossing.
Tusk said in December that he believed Poland was close to being able to end the truckers’ protest.
(Reporting by Alan Charlish and Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk; editing by Barbara Lewis)
