Kowalczyk's resignation was announced in Warsaw at the time of Ukrainian President Zelensky's visit to the country. The transit issue is controversial in Poland because it is believed to undermine Polish grain trade. EU figures contradict this, stating that the majority of grain is indeed being transshipped.
Other neighboring countries are also complaining about market disruptions because the EU has abolished tariffs on almost all Ukrainian agricultural products. Last week, the prime ministers of five EU countries sent a letter of protest to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen about this matter.
In recent months, farmers in Poland have organized massive protests, including blocking roads. The protests have been ongoing for more than a year and were initially mainly directed against the rural policies of the conservative PiS party. The party aims to restructure and modernize Polish agriculture to meet the EU criteria for CAP agricultural subsidies.
Additionally, African Swine Fever has virtually shut down the Polish meat processing industry. This issue previously led to the resignation of another Polish agriculture minister.
The problem of grain imports and the ongoing farmer protests come at a time when Poland is preparing for parliamentary elections later this year. Many Polish farmers are unhappy with the restructuring and modernization of Polish agriculture carried out in recent years to comply with EU subsidy criteria.
As a result, a large radical farmer action group has now emerged in Poland. This group believes that the modernization comes at the expense of traditional Polish farming methods and the local character of the sector.
The ruling PiS party has repeatedly promised to protect Polish farmers from unfair competition and tries to limit the effects of EU rules as much as possible. For this reason, Minister of Agriculture Kowalczyk had promised farmers that he would put pressure on Brussels to secure an exception for Poland. Brussels did not do this.