Hungary announced on Wednesday it would extend a ban on grain imports from Ukraine along with Romania and Slovakia in line with Poland’s decision, but Bulgaria wants to withdraw from the agreement and suspend the measure.
In April, the European Union (EU) authorized five member states (Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia) to ban the sale of Ukrainian wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds on their territory, unless this interferes with the transit of grain to other countries.
The measure was intended to protect farmers in these countries, who blamed these imports for falling prices in their local markets.
The bans expire next Friday, according to the calendar determined by Brussels at the time, but Hungary and Poland want to extend them until the end of the year.
Hungarian Agriculture Minister István Nagy said today in a message published on the social network Facebook that the government has reached an agreement with Romanian, Slovak and Bulgarian partners.
“If Brussels does not decide to extend the current moratorium, we will take national measures on an individual basis,” he explained.
Despite the statement of the Hungarian minister, including Bulgaria, Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov said today in a statement that he has decided to lift the temporary ban on the import of Ukrainian grains until next Friday, saying that he has the support of the party in power, the reformist PP-BD and the conservative GERB, as well as the Turkish minority DPS.
“Recognizing Bulgaria’s solidarity with Ukraine and ensuring global food security (…), Bulgaria does not support the continuation of the ban after September 15 (…),” says the text, which will be put to a vote in parliament.
Denkov also said that lifting the ban would stimulate competition in the national market and help curb prices for basic food products and inflation.
The Hungarian minister even admitted that he had extended restrictions to a number of other Ukrainian agricultural products.
“We protect the interests of farmers,” emphasized Istvan Nagy.
On Tuesday, the Polish government also made a similar decision if Brussels does not accept the extension requested by the states concerned.
“Whatever the subsequent decision of the Commission [Europeia]“After this date, we will not open the border to Ukrainian grain,” the Polish leader said in a statement, stressing the need to continue to seek a solution to this issue at the European level.
“If Brussels does not comply with the embargo, we ourselves will implement these decisions. This is a matter of principle for us. The interests of the Polish side are most important to us,” explains the Warsaw government.
Although Poland is a major supplier of military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine and hosts about a million Ukrainian refugees, the issue of grain imports has sparked a diplomatic dispute between the two neighboring countries.
Ukraine has become entirely reliant on EU grain export routes after Russia unilaterally abandoned an export deal in July that would have allowed Kiev to safely ship its agricultural produce to countries in Africa and Asia via the Black Sea.
However, the governments of Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia have come under pressure from their respective agricultural sectors, who have criticized the fact that this measure granted to Ukraine puts their production at risk.
In view of this, the European Commission banned the import of wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds from Ukraine to these countries. On June 5, the veto was extended until September 15.
Kiev has repeatedly called for the ban not to be extended, accusing five EU governments of a lack of solidarity amid Russian bombing of Ukrainian ports and an agricultural sector that cannot export by sea due to a military blockade of the sea. For Russia.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal said on Tuesday that Warsaw’s position “is populist” and warned that the Kiev government “will be forced” to appeal to the World Trade Organization to demand possible compensation from countries that maintain restrictions.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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