Poland and Hungary announced on Saturday that they would ban the import of grain and other food from neighboring Ukraine. The European Commission condemned the move, calling it “unacceptable”.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine, a number of ports on the Black Sea have been blocked. This meant that Ukraine can export much less grain. The European Commission came up with a plan last May to help Ukrainian farmers. The grain would be exported to countries in Africa and the Middle East via countries such as Poland and Hungary.
Ukrainian foodstuffs would not compete with European products, so would not end up on the market in Hungary and Poland. But in recent weeks, this has often happened due to shortages of trains and trucks. Polish and Hungarian farmers took to the streets en masse to protest. Their grain prices cannot compete with the cheap grain from Ukraine.
This caused five neighboring countries of Ukraine to complain to the European Commission in recent weeks. They want import duties on agricultural products from Ukraine to be reintroduced and are asking for extra subsidies.
Because this did not happen, Hungary and Poland have now decided to ban the import of grain from Ukraine. The ban will last until the end of June and applies not only to grain, but also to the import of sugar, eggs, meat and fruit, among other things.
To put it mildly, the European Commission is not happy with the action of the Member States. “These import bans are not allowed and will not be tolerated”, according to the Commission,
The Ukrainian Ministry of Agriculture and Food says it understands that farmers from Poland and Hungary are in a difficult situation. But emphasizes that Ukrainian farmers are currently in an even more difficult situation.
The ministry says the ban on Ukrainian grain contradicts existing agreements between the EU and Ukraine and calls for talks to resolve the issue. Those talks will take place on Monday.
