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Przemyśl, Poland.

Przemyśl's double life

Not far from the Ukrainian border, the small Polish town of Przemyśl is one of the eastern gates of the Schengen area. But people on both sides continue to keep up close ties, and small trade thrives under the tolerant eye of the customs officials.

Published on 28 June 2011 at 14:38
Maciej Zygmunt  | Przemyśl, Poland.

Early in the morning there are few customers tracking through the muddy alleys of the "Ukrainian bazaar" in Przemyśl, a city of 65,000 people on the banks of the River San in Poland’s Lower Carpathians, 15 km from the border with Ukraine. A seller with reddened cheeks and a blond mop of hair touches up his display: bags of filled chocolates nestling alongside pocket torches, razor blades and vials of goose fat.

"It's good against ulcers – it comes from the pharmacies of Kiev!” the merchant promises. Holding it closer in a calloused hand, he shows off the Cyrillic label.

This miracle cure, along with cigarettes and a legendary "vodka farewell" – so strong it can be fatal – are almost the only Ukrainian goods in the bazaar. Standing in front of racks of lingerie brought from Turkey and China, a merchant remarks: “The Ukrainians don’t come here any more. Just Polish traders."

After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 Przemyśl and its forest of church steeples opened up to neighbouring Ukraine. Sugar, gasoline, tiles, alcohol flowed both ways. Taking advantage of the differences in prices, the "ants" of the two countries commuted busily to sell their wares on both sides of the border, with no red tape to complicate life. It was a way to make ends meet in this rural part of Poland that has very little industry.

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In 2004 the barriers went up, as Poland's entry into the EU left Przemyśl at the border of a tightly controlled territory. An Austro-Hungarian fortress besieged by Russian troops during the First World War, occupied by the Soviet and German armies during the Second, the city is now a gateway to the European temple. Quotas were imposed: no entry into Poland with more than two packs of cigarettes and a litre of vodka.

What’s more, Ukrainians now need a visa. At first the visa was free, but when Warsaw joined the Schengen area in 2007 a fee began to be charged. It became harder to get one, too, since Poland is now a buffer zone for the whole European Union. For Polish citizens, though, the rules have not changed, and a passport is enough to cross into Ukraine.

To play the sentinels of Schengen requires some skill on Poland’s part. The country does not wish to compromise its fraternal relationship with Ukraine, a country with which its history has long been intertwined. Poland is home to a Ukrainian minority, and vice versa. For Warsaw, therefore, the new balancing act lies in preserving its links with its "sister" while honouring the obligations that come with its geographical position along the external borders of Schengen.

This delicate juggling act is being played out at the frontier post of Medyka, 15 km from Przemyśl. About fifty vehicles in single file are waiting to cross through a black portal put up between corn fields. Behind the wheel of an orange van, Bogdan, 49, from Ukraine, sighs: "Sometimes it takes three hours to get across."

An engineer in a jet aircraft factory in the Soviet era, Bogdan passes through here every ten days. After a day in Przemysl, he leaves with the rear of the van loaded down with building materials he will sell in Ukraine. “It’s hard to find anything at home, and here it’s much cheaper,” he says. “I make 20 per cent profit, which is better money than working in Ukraine for €80 a month."

Imports for individuals are, in theory, limited. But the Ukrainian customs officials who inspect the goods leaving Poland have a reputation for not being too fussy.

With 1000 crossings a day, Medyka is the busiest of the three border posts in the district. But while the throngs might indicate that nothing has changed since 2004, a full 80 per cent of the crossings are now by Ukrainians, coming to load up in the land of plenty at their doorstep. The area around the border post at Medyka, once deserted, welcomes them with a queue of supermarkets selling food, appliances, crafts and clothing.

In 2009 Poland worked out a card system that allows Ukrainian border residents to move without a visa within a radius of 30 km from the border crossing. The magic password has been a success.

For the majority of those living in Przemyśl, Schengen has not meant escape and getting ahead in life. On the contrary, the new status of the city has deepened its sense of being left behind to stagnate, deep in this eastern half of Poland. In the Lower Carpathians, unemployment has climbed to 15.9 percent, well above the national average of 9.3 percent.

On a bench in John Paul II Park, Stefania, an old lady in her Sunday best, misses the old times. "I was a smuggler,” she says. “It was illegal, but it was a way to live. Now I have nothing left. The borders didn’t stay open long enough to let a lady get rich."

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