In a joint letter to the European Commission, the ministers of agriculture of Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary ask for the introduction of import duties on Ukrainian grain due to allegedly unfair competition. Cheaper agricultural products from Ukraine allegedly "swallow their export markets" of corn and grain.
This is reported by Reuters with reference to the Ministry of Agriculture of Hungary.
Signatory countries have indicated that their countries produce significantly more wheat and maize than they need, which is key to European food security and the EUʼs strategic sovereignty.
"That is why Brussels needs to introduce measures that will protect the markets of member countries bordering Ukraine, helping them to use all their export potential. One of these measures can be the introduction of import duties on the most sensitive agricultural products," the letter says.
Ministers say their countriesʼ farmers have "suffered significant losses" after the EU suspended import quotas and duties on grain from Ukraine last year. They call on the European Commission to check whether Ukrainian production rules meet EU standards. The ministersʼ letters were addressed to EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis and Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski.
And what is the problem?
After the start of the full-scale war, the European Union canceled all tariffs and quotas for the transit of Ukrainian grain. Farmers from Poland, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Slovakia lost hundreds of millions of euros due to the influx of Ukrainian grain into their markets. Then countries began to ban the import of Ukrainian grain, and the European Commission allocated funds to European farmers.
From May 2 until September 15, 2023, the European Commission officially banned the import of wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds from Ukraine to Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. At the same time, there was a transit of Ukrainian products through their territory.
On July 17, 2023, Russia announced its withdrawal from the "grain agreement". Already on July 19, Russian troops attacked the port infrastructure of Odesa and the region, targeting grain and oil terminals. After that, Russia began systematically shelling Ukraineʼs grain infrastructure. On August 10, Ukraine announced temporary sea corridors for merchant ships, and then began attacking Russian ships.
On January 11, 2024, Dmytro Pletenchuk, the spokesman for the Navy of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, stated that the "grain corridor" in the Black Sea reached pre-war levels.