VILNIUS: Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Monday called on the European Union to impose “full” sanctions on food and agricultural imports from Russia and Belarus in response to bloc-wide farmer protests.

Farmers across Europe have been protesting for weeks over what they say are excessively restrictive environmental rules, competition from cheap imports from outside the European Union and low incomes.

“I would prefer that we, as the entire European Union, decide on sanctions against Russia and Belarus regarding food and agricultural products,” Tusk told reporters on a visit to Lithuania.

Latvia parliament bans food imports from Russia, Belarus

Baltic EU member Latvia already banned food imports from Russia and Belarus, including via intermediary countries, this month.

“I am convinced that a joint EU decision will be incomparably more effective than individual decisions by the region’s member states,” Tusk added.

He said he would propose a Polish parliament resolution urging the European Commission to impose “full sanctions” on the imports.

Ukraine, once dubbed “Europe’s bread basket”, has seen its agriculture sector crippled by Russia’s invasion, with many of Black Sea export hubs blocked and farmland rendered unusable by warfare.

In a bid to help Kyiv economically after the Russian invasion, the European Union decided in 2022 to drop tariffs on Ukrainian goods transiting the 27-nation bloc by road.

But logistical problems mean much of Ukraine’s cereal exports has accumulated in EU-member Poland, undercutting local producers.

Polish farmers have been blocking border crossings with Ukraine and other highways to protest at what they say is unfair competition from goods entering the Polish market from their war-torn neighbour.

Poland’s ties with Ukraine have become strained over the border blockades and the grain dispute, with at least four incidents of Polish farmers spilling Ukrainian grain from lorries and freight trains.

Tusk said EU-wide sanctions would make it possible to “more effectively protect the EU’s agricultural and food markets” and “fully unblock the possibilities of exporting Ukrainian products… to third countries”.