Bulgarian grain producers with hundreds of agricultural machinery this Wednesday blocked several border points with Romania to ask for an end to the duty-free import of Ukrainian grain.
Farmers believe they are threatened by duty-free imports of Ukrainian products, which they see as unfair competition.
They complain that their consumer prices for grains and oilseeds do not cover the cost of production, and most of the available products cannot be sold, so they accumulate in warehouses and do not allow new crops to be harvested.
Therefore, they ask not to extend the EU regulation, which exempts imports from Ukraine from taxes.
They even demand that Ukrainian products should not be sold in Bulgaria at all.
Bulgarian President Rumen Radev has asked European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel to find a solution to the problem.
Commission spokeswoman Miriam Garcia Ferrer announced that Bulgaria will receive 16.750 million euros to compensate for the losses of its farmers.
Similar protests are taking place in Poland, and this Wednesday there was a meeting between the minister of the sector and farmers, at which there was a promise of support from the government and the European Union.
Polish farmers are complaining about falling selling prices due to the influx of large quantities of Ukrainian products, which were supposed to be sent to Africa and the Middle East.
Polish Minister Henryk Kowalczyk said after meetings with farmers’ organizations that an amount of 256 million euros would be provided to farmers and traders affected by financial transactions, as well as subsidies for companies that transport grain to ports for export. .
Last week, the European Commission allocated 56.3 million euros to compensate affected farmers, of which 16.7 million went to Bulgaria and 30 million to Poland.
While acknowledging that Poland’s Ukrainian cereal export scheme was not going as expected, Kowalczyk relativized, emphasizing that: “We must see that we need to help Ukraine, which is fighting for our freedom.”
Ukraine has been under attack and invasion by the Russian Federation since February 24, 2022.