Ukraine VR Speaker Arseniy Yatseniuk officially addressed Marshal of the Polish Seym Bronislav Komorovsky with a request to prompt fastening of preparing, signing and further ratification of the agreement on local borderland traffic between Ukraine and Poland, according to the Our Ukraine’s web site.
Mr. Yatseniuk stressed the exigent importance of signing this agreement, considering the critical situation at the Ukrainian – Polish border, after the Republic of Poland entered the Schengen zone.
The VR Speaker is convinced that the problem will be solved over bilateral cooperation. He also emphasized the importance of further broadening “traditionally friendly Ukraine-Polish ties”.
Dozens of Ukrainians blocked a checkpoint on the Polish border Wednesday, angry over new visa restrictions imposed after the European Union`s borderless travel area expanded eastward, authorities said, according to AP.
About 40 people laid massive concrete blocks and wooden bars across a main highway, blocking traffic to and from Poland and stranding over 100 trucks at the border, said Roman Stakhiv, a spokesman for the local border guard unit.
Thousands of Ukrainians who live near the border make their livings from selling grocery products and clothing imported from Poland. They have been angered by the new rules imposed last month when Poland became part of Europe`s Schengen frontier-free zone.
The rules complicate procedures for Ukrainians to get visas to visit Poland, and make the visas prohibitively expensive for most people.
The protesters demanded that the visa restrictions be eased for those living in the 50-kilometer (30 mile) border zone, said Volodymyr Malinovsky, a spokesman for the Pora group, which helped organize the protests.
In Warsaw, Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said a draft agreement on small border traffic was almost ready.
«But, talking in real terms, we must remember that the infrastructure of border crossings must be improved,» he said. «That will take time needed for the construction of border crossings. So I would not like to raise expectations. We are proceeding with as much energy as possible.
