The European Commission announced this Friday that Ukraine has agreed to adopt measures to control the export of cereals to the European Union to avoid saturating the markets of Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Romania. For this reason, Brussels has decided to end the temporary veto that, since May, meant that wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds originating in Ukraine could not be sold in those countries, although they could transit through them to other countries. EU Member States or third parties. The decision has not been well received, however, by several of the affected governments, which have already announced new vetoes of their own.
The temporary veto had been approved in May and extended in June, with the idea that it would disappear “progressively” until its definitive end this Friday. However, in recent days, several of the affected countries, especially Poland and Hungary, had threatened to reimpose their own bans if the measures agreed in Brussels were not extended. Poland, Hungary and Slovakia have already announced, shortly after Brussels’ announcement, that they will adopt unilateral measures.
The first was Budapest, which quickly decided to impose a new national import ban on 24 Ukrainian agricultural products, including grains, vegetables and various meat products, Reuters reports. Shortly after, similar news arrived from Slovakia and Poland.
“Following the erroneous decision of the Commission, in accordance with the instructions of the [primer ministro] Mateusz Morawiecki and the entire Council of Ministers, I have signed a national law that maintains the embargo,” the Polish Minister of Development, Waldemar Buda, announced on X (former Twitter). The three new vetoes are only limited to national imports and will not affect the transit of Ukrainian products to other markets, Reuters highlights. Even so, the decision collides head-on with the position of Brussels, which this Friday recalled that trade policy is its “exclusive competence.”
In a statement, the European Commission has indicated that, after analyzing the data related to the “impact” of the exports of these four products to the European market, it has come to the conclusion that “the market distortions in the five member countries bordering Ukraine have disappeared.”
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Without mentioning the threats issued in recent days from several affected capitals, Brussels underlines the “constructive attitude” of all those involved, which has made it possible to “resolve specific problems and guarantee that imports to third countries outside the EU flow and even are increase.”
For this reason, he adds, it has been agreed that the “temporary and exceptional” measures for the four Ukrainian grains “expire”, as planned, at midnight this Friday.
In return, Ukraine “has agreed to introduce legal measures”, such as an export licensing system, in the next 30 days, to prevent further increases in the flow of grain into neighboring EU member countries. Until then, Kiev will implement “effective measures” to control the export of the four groups of cereals to avoid new distortions, for which it will present, next Monday at the latest, an “action plan” to Brussels and the five countries involved.
As long as these conditions are met, which will be monitored through the “joint coordination platform” of the EU and Kiev created in June to monitor the situation, the Commission “will refrain from imposing new restrictions,” Brussels has promised.
Fissure in support for Ukraine
Last spring, Poland, first, Hungary, then and progressively the rest of the aforementioned countries, caused the first fissure in the until then ironclad support of the EU for Kiev by announcing that they were vetoing imports of Ukrainian grain and other foods from the country in war. These products are free of tariffs and taxes in the EU since June 2022, thanks to one of the measures of European support for the Ukrainian economy and to reduce the global food crisis, aggravated by the Kremlin’s blockade of Ukrainian ports, one of the granaries of the world. However, that exemption sparked strong protests from farmers in Poland and Hungary, who claimed that the tariff-free arrival of these products from Ukraine was saturating their markets and causing drops in local prices.
After arduous negotiations, the European Commission announced an agreement on May 2 by which “exceptional and temporary preventive” measures were adopted that affected four agricultural products – wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds – of Ukrainian origin; in exchange for the countries that at that time had joined the veto on Ukrainian foods (Bulgaria, Slovakia and Romania, as well as Poland and Hungary) to lift it. The temporary pact, originally in force until June 5 and to which was added a package of 100 million euros for the affected farmers, implied that these four products could not be sold in those countries, although they could transit through them to other States. EU members or third countries.
Finally, in June, while the suspension of tariffs and taxes on Ukraine was extended for another year, the Commission decided to maintain the veto on Ukrainian grain in the five countries, citing “exceptional circumstances of serious logistical bottlenecks and limited cereal storage capacity before harvest.” However, he added, these exceptional measures should be eliminated “progressively” until their total disappearance this September 15.
The five beneficiary countries and the EU also agreed to the creation of a joint coordination platform, with the participation of Kiev, “to improve the trade flow between the Union and Ukraine, including the transit of agricultural products.” This platform has met up to nine times during the summer; Even so, in recent days, the majority of the countries participating in the veto – all except Bulgaria – have expressed their intention to maintain it, even if the Commission decides to lift the temporary agreement.
“We will not open our borders. “Poland will not allow us to be inundated with Ukrainian grain,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Wednesday. Hungary, Slovakia and Romania also assured this week that they will continue to prohibit the entry of wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower. Only Bulgaria stood out and announced its intention to lift the veto. Given the threats of extending the veto, which Hungary has already made a reality – and despite the fact that the Commission has recalled, also this week, that trade policy is its responsibility -; Ukraine has threatened to go to the World Trade Organization (WTO), according to Efe, to denounce Poland and countries that “violate the rules” of international trade.
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