“I am confident that, with the new government in Poland, we will accelerate the resolution of all outstanding issues in our relations in a mutually beneficial way,” Zelensky said.
“Solving the problem requires working on several levels,” Poland’s new infrastructure minister, Arkadiusz Klimczak, said last week. “I start by talking to entrepreneurs who feel deprived and neglected. This is the first step in the chain.”
The Rzeczpospolita newspaper reported on Monday that Polish and Ukrainian ministers will meet on Wednesday in a new round of talks on resolving the crisis.
Reopening the border will require a strong effort by Tusk’s government, as the blockade also has the support of Polish farmers who say the authorities are doing little to prevent the flow of cheap Ukrainian agricultural goods into Poland.
Ukrainian grains were first banned by the previous PiS government, but the new administration is also wary of angering farmers – a powerful voting bloc.
Poland’s new deputy agriculture minister, Mihail Kolodziejczak – who rose to his post from a radical agricultural activist just a few months ago – caused consternation in Kiev when he said on Saturday that Ukraine’s EU accession was “absolutely unfavorable for Polish farmers and businessmen”.
