Poland fears possible EU enlargement because of Ukraine’s agricultural role, former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta has said.
The former Italian prime minister spoke about the reasons for Poland’s concerns about Ukraine’s possible accession to the EU.
“I can tell you one more thing I felt during my visit to Warsaw. It was the most pro-Ukrainian country. And I was very surprised to see how much Poles are afraid of EU enlargement because of the figures about Ukraine’s role in agriculture. If we cannot accompany the transition with financing, people will be afraid and react the way farmers do,” Enrico Letta said in an interview with the Mundo newspaper.
According to the politician, the farmers will be followed by other protesters if the EU does not give clear explanations on how to finance the transition period, which is very expensive.
Enrico Letta recalled that the former head of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi mentioned a figure of 500 billion euros a year (financing the transition period). According to the former Italian Prime Minister, “if we (EU – ed.) as institutions cannot say how to find this money, citizens will think that they will have to pay for it”.
Just to remind you, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk earlier suggested that Brussels liquidate the agreement on the liberalisation of trade relations between Ukraine and the European Union, which was introduced with the start of the Ukrainian conflict.