Bulgaria became the fourth EU country to ban the import of agricultural products from Ukraine. Previously, such decisions were taken by Poland, Hungary and Slovakia.
BNR writes about it.
This ban will be temporary — but it will not apply to transit. That is, Bulgaria will allow the transportation of Ukrainian agricultural products through its territory.
"The main reason is that over the last year, contrary to the idea of the so-called corridors of solidarity, significant amounts of food remained in the country and disrupted the main production and trade chains. If such a trend persists and even increases, which is quite realistic after similar bans have been introduced by other countries, this may lead to extremely serious consequences for Bulgarian business," noted the acting head of the Prime Minister of Bulgaria Gilib Donev.
He hopes that "Brussels will hear and understand the positions" of other EU member states and change its attitude to this problem.
- Poland banned the import of grain and dozens of types of agricultural products from Ukraine. The head of the ruling "Law and Justice" party Yaroslav Kaczynski stated that the decision was made taking into account "the asymmetry between Polish and Ukrainian agriculture, which is a consequence of the quality of the land, much lower wages in Ukraine, and the fact that in Ukraine, mostly large areas are worked international companies with extensive infrastructure".
- Earlier, Brussels offered €56.3 million as compensation to the affected farmers of Ukraineʼs neighboring countries, but this amount was called too small. In February of this year, the Polish government introduced state subsidies for farmers, but this did not improve the situation.
- On April 16, Hungary, following Poland, temporarily banned the import of agricultural products from Ukraine. The ban will last until June 30. And on April 17, Slovakia adopted a similar decision.
- The European Commission reacted to such decisions. Unilateral actions on trade by the EU member states were called unacceptable. The European Commission plans to approve an additional package of support measures for EU farmers who were "suffered" by the influx of Ukrainian agricultural products.
- On the evening of April 18, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Yuliia Svyridenko announced that Ukraine had agreed with Poland to restore the transit of agricultural products. It will be unlocked on the night of Thursday, April 21 to Friday, April 22.