Unacceptable Ban by Hungary and Poland on Grain Imports from Ukraine, Says European Commission

The press service of the European Commission considers unacceptable the ban imposed by Hungary and Poland on the import of grain from Ukraine due to the overcrowding of their markets.

“The European Commission is aware that Hungary and Poland have announced a ban on the import of grain and other agricultural products from Ukraine,” the office told reporters on Sunday. “We must note that EU trade policy is the exclusive competence of the entire Union, so unilateral action is unacceptable.”

Poland and Hungary announced a temporary ban on the import of agricultural products from Ukraine from April 16 to June 30. Both countries indicated that they were forced to take these measures due to the lack of any reaction from the European Commission to their demands for assistance to Hungarian and Polish farmers who are suffering huge losses due to the accumulation of Ukrainian agricultural products on their farms. markets.

Last Friday, 6 EU member states, including Hungary and Poland, advocated the creation of a single European mechanism for the purchase of Ukrainian grain and the introduction of tariff quotas for Ukrainian agricultural products in the European Union.

For his part, Slovak Minister of Agriculture Samuel Vlchan said that grain harvesting will begin in the Union countries within a few months, and if the situation does not change with the import of wheat from Ukraine, intended for transportation to African countries, some of which are sold in EU countries, local Farmers face bankruptcy.

However, on April 13, Slovakia introduced a temporary ban on the processing and sale of Ukrainian grain in the country.

In March 2022, the European Commission launched the Green Lines project for wholesale grain exports from Ukraine. It was expected that these revenues would be directed to the world market, which would allow Kyiv to receive additional export earnings. In fact, most of Ukrainian agricultural production remained – due to logistical problems – in countries neighboring Ukraine, which led to the emergence of a crisis of agricultural surplus in these countries. Brussels has so far been unable to propose any measures to resolve this crisis.

Source: TASS