On the eve of the NATO summit, the Polish authorities closed the border traffic with the Kaliningrad region, explaining that the measures to provide increased security. But after the summit the situation has not changed and a logical explanation there is no.
Again “Russian threat”
Somehow, after the end of the NATO summit and world Youth Day in Krakow, the Polish authorities did not open its border with the Kaliningrad region, although these events marked the “temporary” closure.
Despite this, Polish politicians continue to argue that the decision is temporary, but everyone understands that on many joint projects and the free movement of inhabitants of Kaliningrad to the Polish border city for shopping, you can forget for a long time, because current Polish policy is extremely aggressive against Russia.
By this action, the Polish government actually shot itself in the foot, especially painful wounding of poles in Warmia-Masurian Voivodeship, living on the border with Kaliningrad.
The old agreement
It should say that the Russians from the Kaliningrad region were esteemed guests to the poles living on the other side of the border.
The agreement on small border traffic was signed in December 2011, the last ruling team in Poland. At the same time this decision was criticized by party “law and justice”, referring to the fact that Kaliningrad is a hotbed of crime and threats to Poland.
But nothing happened, and Kaliningrad made during this time, more than one million visits to Poland (only in the past year, more than 1 300 000 visits). In 2015 the Polish tax office has received about 200 000 receipts, according to which the Russian guests left the province not less than € 53 million or 180 million PLN. This does not include spending on hotels and restaurants.
For the sake of our guests are local firms and companies had specially built on the border of supermarkets such as Biedronka and Lidl, a chain of hotels and enterprises in the service sector. Now, if the border between Poland and the Kaliningrad region will be closed in the future, thousands of jobs, which took the local poles will disappear.
To spoil at any cost
Polish experts point out that in addition to the economic losses are more significant: it is the loss of reputation and break the ideological ties. For 25 years the Kaliningrad oblast has evolved from a Soviet province in a modern European region of Russia, largely due to the proximity to Poland.
That is why recently the Kaliningrad region attracted the attention of the Kremlin. Recently, the city changed the Governor, and there have been other changes in the structure of local government. Adequate Polish experts also believe that the free cross-border movement reduced the level of conflict between the two countries and helped to establish economic and political ties. But apparently Polish politicians already needs something to screw it up.
Author: Ivan Gogh
