Poland continued to press the EU to extend the bloc’s restriction on importing Ukrainian grains beyond the currently agreed deadline of September 15, the country’s Agriculture Minister Robert Telus said on July 25.

Poland and other so-called “frontline” countries Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria are pushing for the restrictions to remain in place longer to protect farmers. 

For the Warsaw government, the issue is particularly weighty. Poles are likely to go to the polling stations sometime in October (the exact date has not been set yet) in an election that will decide if the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party remains in power for a third successive term.

Farmers and, more generally, people in rural communities, are a powerful voting cohort in Poland. 

Failing to ensure the extension of the restriction deadline could seriously dent PiS’ chances for a decent election result. 

The ruling party already said that if there is no EU-wide agreement to keep checks on Ukrainian grain imports, Poland would implement them unilaterally. 

That would go against the EU’s common rules that say trade policy is a competence of the bloc as a whole, not individual member states.

Polish politicians appear determined to have it their way, however.

“The interests of our farmers are paramount,” Telus told reporters after a meeting of EU agriculture ministers in Brussels for the so-called Agrifish Council, Politico Europe reported.

“Our decisions are not against anyone; they are first and foremost for our farmers,” Telus added.

The issue is a strain on Polish-Ukrainian relations, which have otherwise flourished in the wake of the war with Warsaw positioning itself as Kyiv’s staunchest European ally.

It has also grown more problematic after Russia declared earlier this month that it would no longer observe the Black Sea grain deal, which allowed seaborne transport of grain from Ukraine's ports. 

“Our position is clear: blocking exports by land after September 15, when the relevant restrictions expire, is unacceptable in any form,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on the X platform (formerly Twitter).