Vilnius | Reuters — Poland plans to ask the European Union to put sanctions on Russian and Belarusian agricultural products as it seeks to meet the needs of protesting farmers, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Monday during a visit to the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.
Like much of Europe, Poland has been gripped by protests in recent weeks as farmers demonstrate against EU environmental regulations and what they say is unfair competition from Ukraine since the bloc waived duties on imports in 2022.
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Last week, Tusk said that market disruptions were also caused by agricultural products from Russia and Belarus and did not rule out introducing a ban.
“I would like to inform you that today I will turn to the Speaker of the Parliament with a proposal for a resolution calling on the European Commission to impose sanctions on food products from Russia and Belarus,” said Tusk during a joint conference with Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte.
Tusk said that joint EU decisions would be more effective than measures introduced by individual countries. Simonyte said Vilnius would support the initiative.
–Reporting for Reuters by Adrius Sytas, Alan Charlish, and Pawel Florkiewicz.
