On Sunday, Polish farmers began blocking a key border post with Germany in Słubice in protest against European Union rules and imports of products from outside the EU that are considered substandard.

“The blockade started at 13:00 (12:00 GMT), both sides of the A2 highway are closed,” local police spokeswoman Eva Murmilo said, according to AFP and Agerpres.

The farmers had initially envisaged a 25-day blockade, but after discussions with local residents, businessmen and transporters, they decided to “unblock the passage, probably tomorrow”, Dariusz Wrubel, one of the organizers of the movement, told AFP.

“It depends on things we cannot predict,” he said ahead of a meeting of EU agriculture ministers in Brussels on Monday.

“We need to be taken seriously. We are protesting against the European Green Pact, imports of agri-food products from outside the EU must finally be kept under control, and we must take care of agricultural production in the EU,” he said.

Wrubel emphasized that Polish farmers “identify” with the entire farmer protest movement on the continent.

In Poland, farmers have been protesting for several weeks, blocking roads in the country and border points with Ukraine, against Ukrainian agricultural products that do not meet EU standards.

On Friday, the Polish government told AFP that Warsaw and Kyiv are “far from an agreement” on the import of Ukrainian agricultural products.

In turn, the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal said that Ukraine reserves “the right to apply retaliatory measures.”