Organiser of the farmers' protest at the border with Lithuania: 14,000 trucks were checked
Karol Pieczynski, a representative of Polish farmers, who organised the blockade at the Lithuanian border, says that 14,000 heavy vehicles were checked during the week and that farmers will receive detailed information on what they were carrying in a week's time.
„The protest ended on Thursday at 10.30 a.m., and in 7 days the Polish control authorities have checked 14,000 trucks. There were trucks carrying grain, as well as flour and cereal meal. We will know the details in about a week when we receive the report of the National Tax Administration, which administers the border control system," Pieczynski told Elta.
„There have been some interesting cases, but farmers do not know all the details. Despite the huge number of trucks inspected, traffic during the week of inspections was lower, and hauliers and drivers themselves said that more than one transport of grain had been stopped," he noted.
„Nevertheless, the authorities are not stopping the inspections and have announced that inspections without prior notice will now be carried out more frequently. We will certainly continue to monitor grain imported from Ukraine and Russia and processed in Lithuanian mills into Community goods," said a Polish farmer representative.
ELTA recalls that Polish farmers started on Friday last week to block part of the road between Kalvaria and the Polish village of Budzisk in the Suwałki county. During the almost week-long action, the quantities of Ukrainian grain being transported were checked.
Earlier, Polish farmers blocked the roads to Ukraine, as well as the main šalies highway to Germany. The protests are due to what Polish farmers see as unfair competition, as Ukrainian grain is cheaper and drives down production prices across Europe.
According to the State Border Guard Service, the protest by Polish farmers ended on Thursday at the Budzisko-Kalwaria border checkpoint. Government Chancellor Giedrė Balčytytė thanked all the Lithuanian authorities who had successfully prepared for and managed the situation.
