The European Union (EU) will change the rules of entry and exit in the fall: citizens of non-EU countries will be required to register their fingerprints and facial images at the border.
As reported by the MAPA public union on Monday, the relevant changes were discussed at a meeting between representatives of the Transport Community and representatives of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency at the Ministry of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine.
The changes will affect transportation and travel to 30 European countries, the statement said.
“The first change concerns the introduction of the entry-exit system (EES). From now on, all non-EU citizens will be required to register their fingerprints and facial images at the border. This process will begin in the fall of this year,” MAPA said.
Another change will take effect from mid-2025: travelers will have to submit an online application to the European Travel Authorization Information System (ETIAS) before starting their trip and pay a EUR7 fee.
MAPA clarified that in connection with these innovations, transport companies will have to make changes to their booking, document verification, passenger check-in systems and adapt their operating procedures.
All checkpoints on the Ukrainian-Polish border were unblocked on Sunday night, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Mykola Solsky said.
“We express our gratitude to the Polish Ministry for their constructive work on unblocking the border, as well as to the industry associations of both countries. The ongoing negotiations were not easy, but the main thing is that we have a result,” the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy quoted him as saying at the online talks on Monday.
According to the report, negotiations between the ministries and associations will continue. The parties agreed to exchange monthly figures on the transit of agricultural products to monitor the situation.
The next meeting of the agriculture ministers of Ukraine and Poland is scheduled for May 7. They will discuss the terms of cooperation between the agricultural sectors of the two countries in the summer.
Ukrainian and Polish agrarian associations will continue negotiations this week on the transit of grain and other products and the unblocking of the border, said Taras Vysotskyi, First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, during a national telethon.
“It is very important that the associations of different sectors have established communication and will continue to meet this week to clearly agree on the parameters (of export and transit of Ukrainian agricultural products – IF-U). Everyone realized (at the Ukrainian-Polish meeting in Poland last week – IF-U) that interaction and cooperation, agreements will ultimately have the best result,” he said.
According to Vysotsky, in the first two weeks of April, a meeting of the Polish and Ukrainian sides is planned in an expanded format, where farmers of the two countries will look for ways to cooperate. It is expected that this could also become the basis for agreements at the interstate level. Agrarian associations will work on each industry whose representatives were at the talks, including raspberries, juice, honey, eggs, grain, and poultry.
“There is a cautious optimism in this regard, which gives us hope that after a few more meetings to fix the final parameters, we will finally be able to solve this problem,” Vysotsky emphasized.
He also added that the issue of transit of Ukrainian grain is raised at all international meetings.
“Ukraine insists that transit should be available without stops and blockages,” the First Deputy Minister summarized.
agrarian associations, AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS, BORDER, TRANSIT
Polish authorities have agreed with farmers on subsidies per ton of grain and temporary closure of the border with Ukraine from April 1 for the transit of some agricultural products, polskieradio24.pl reported.
According to the newspaper, the document was signed by representatives of the protesting farmers, Agriculture Minister Czeslaw Seckerski and the ministry’s state secretary Michal Kolodziejczak.
The agreement envisages maintaining the current embargo on agricultural products from Ukraine, which has been in place since mid-September last year. It concerns in particular wheat, corn, wheat flour, rapeseed and sunflower.
In addition, the Minister of Agriculture must ask the Council of Ministers of the European Union to suspend the transit of these products through Polish territory as of April 1 this year.
Both sides in the signed document also consider it necessary to develop detailed rules for agri-food trade between Poland and Ukraine, but also note that the difficult situation in agriculture is the result of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
Farmers’ representatives in the agreement declare their government’s support for the changes to the Green Agreement. It is primarily about replacing the mandatory transfer to a voluntary ecosystem and simplifying other rules for farmers.
AUTHORITIES, BORDER, FARMERS, GRAIN, POLAND, transit products, UKRAINE
Polish farmers continue to block truck traffic at the Yahodyn, Ustyluh, Uhryniv, Rava-Ruska, Shehyni and Krakivets checkpoints, with a total of nearly 2,400 trucks in the queues, according to Andriy Demchenko, spokesman for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (SBGS).
“Polish farmers are blocking traffic in six directions. These are the directions of the Yahodyn, Ustyluh, Uhryniv, Rava-Ruska, Shehyni and Krakovets checkpoints. “If we talk about the queues that have formed in Poland because of this, in all these directions, in total, as of this morning, it is about 2,400 trucks, most of all at the Krakovets, Rava-Ruska and Yagodyn checkpoints,” Demchenko said on the air of the national telethon on Sunday.
According to him, the lowest rates of border crossings remain for trucks. Over the past day, about 90 trucks crossed the border in both directions at Shehyni checkpoint, and 50 trucks crossed the border to Ukraine at Yagodyn checkpoint, but Polish farmers continue to completely block the movement of trucks heading from Ukraine to Poland.
There is no blocking of cars and buses.
Protesting Polish farmers have begun to restrict vehicle traffic on the border with Ukraine, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine says.
“Medica-Shegyni. Polish farmers have completely blocked truck traffic through the checkpoint. No deadline for the completion of such a blockade was announced,” the State Border Guard Service said in a statement on its Telegram channel on Tuesday.
According to the State Border Guard Service, the protesters plan to block traffic for all types of transport near the Dolhobychuv-Uhryniv checkpoint until 17.00 on February 20.
“At the Zosin-Ustyluh checkpoint, from 13:00 to 16:00, the protesters intend to restrict the movement of buses, trucks and cars in both directions. They promise to let through only trucks with humanitarian aid,” the State Border Guard Service said in a statement.
At the Korchova-Krakovets checkpoint: “Until 21.00 on February 20, the protesters plan to block the movement of trucks leaving Poland, except for those carrying critical cargo. At the same time, buses, minibuses, and cars will be able to move freely in both directions.”
According to the State Border Guard Service, at the Hrebenne-Rava-Ruska checkpoint, “protesters have completely blocked traffic in both directions for all categories of vehicles, except for those carrying critical cargo and humanitarian aid, since 13.00 on February 20.”
At the Dorohusk-Yahodyn checkpoint, the protest organizers intend to completely block truck traffic in both directions until “19.00”.
