'Trade spats are a sign of how the costs of a long war are only now sinking in'

Farmers enter Krakow, Poland, in tractors with Polish national flags during the nationwide farmers' strike on February 20, 2024. The protest is part of the European farmers' protest against the EU Green Deal regulations. Polish farmers also demand a change to the EU agreement with Ukraine regarding the import of agricultural produce to the EU.

Farmers enter Krakow, Poland, in tractors during the nationwide farmers' strike on February 20, 2024. The protest is part of the European farmers' protest against the EU Green Deal regulations. Polish farmers also demand a change to the EU agreement with Ukraine regarding the import of agricultural produce. The sign roughly translates to: "You will feel hunger and you will respect the farmer."

(Image credit: Dominika Zarzycka / NurPhoto via Getty Images)

By Harold Maass, The Week US

published 26 February 2024

'France's pot shot at Ukrainian chicken says a lot'

Lionel Laurent at Bloomberg

A "fight over food in Europe shows the growing problem of weariness" of Ukraine's allies as its war drags on, says Lionel Laurent. Polish farmers are protesting shipments of cheap Ukrainian grain. French poultry farmers are "calling for a halt to cheap Ukrainian chicken imports," and the government, losing ground to far-right rivals, is promising "to protect protesting farmers." Subsidizing them might help, but so would making it clear what defeat on Europe's border would look like.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.