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The community bloc ended the ban imposed in May that allowed Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia to prevent domestic sales of Ukrainian grains. Three of the five countries did not agree with the decision of the European Commission and announced that they will establish their own import restrictions on cereals, so that the prices of some inputs and foods are not affected.
The European Union (EU) decided not to continue with the import veto. The measures that allowed the five neighboring countries of Ukraine that belong to the bloc to prevent sales of Ukrainian cereals expired this Friday, September 15 at midnight and the European commissioners did not continue them.
Ukraine agrees to introduce measures to avoid a renewed surge in EU imports, following the expiration of the restrictive measures on Ukrainian exports of grain and other foodstuff to the EU.
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— European Commission (@EU_Commission) September 15, 2023
“We have concluded that thanks to the work of the Coordination Platform and the temporary measures introduced on 2 May 2023, market distortions in the five Member States bordering Ukraine have disappeared,” the European Commission said in a statement. release.
And on its official website, the European institution assured that “the success of this work led to temporary distortions in the markets of the five Member States that share a border with Ukraine” and said this had led to restrictive measures being imposed on a number of food exports on 2 May 2023. Ukrainians.
“This contributed to developing infrastructure and increasing logistics capacity, as well as removing administrative barriers to the export of agricultural products from Ukraine,” the European institution said.
EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said the countries concerned should refrain from taking unilateral measures against Ukrainian grain imports, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would respond in a “civilized” manner. if EU members violate the rules.
Unilateral decisions
Poland, Slovakia and Hungary said that they will go against what the Commission of 27 decided and that they will be in charge of creating their own restrictions on domestic sales of wheat, corn and sunflower seeds from Ukraine.
“We will extend this ban despite your disagreement, despite the disagreement of the European Commission,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said at a rally in the northeastern town of Elk. “We will do it because it is in the interest of the Polish farmer.”
In Budapest, the Hungarian government said a national ban will apply to at least 24 agricultural products from Ukraine, including grains, vegetables, various meat products and honey.
A blow to global food security, the grain deal figures
And Slovakia, another of those that says it will not comply with the EU decision, announced bans on cereals coming from the invaded country, information that was published by the Ministry of Agriculture of that country.
The community of farmers in the five countries have repeatedly complained that the jam of Ukrainian products has generated an excess of supply and this has led to the prices of the products falling and the low cost of the same has directly affected their pockets. .
Countries except Bulgaria had been pushing for the ban to be extended after it expired on September 15. Poland, Hungary and Slovakia had already anticipated that they would extend the restrictions unilaterally, while Bulgaria voted on Thursday, September 14, in favor of eliminating them.
After Russia withdrew in July from the Black Sea grain deal brokered by the UN and Turkey to allow safe passage for cargo ships, the European Union created alternative land routes, called Solidarity Routes, for Ukraine to use. to export their cereals.
Over the past year, Ukraine had been moving 60% of its exports through such Solidarity Routes and 40% through the Black Sea thanks to the agreement.
With Reuters and AP
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