The European Commissioner for Agriculture proposes to extend the ban on the import of grain from Ukraine

The European Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, proposes to extend until the end of the year restrictions on the import of grain from Ukraine to five neighboring EU countries, which expire on September 15. However, the European Commission has not yet made a final decision, and the discussion is ongoing. We will remind that Polish politicians were the first to raise the issue of banning the import of Ukrainian grain, and later they were joined by the authorities of Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria. Now, on the eve of the elections, the topic of "protection of local farmers from Ukrainian products" is becoming more and more relevant in Poland.

At the same time, the Polish veterinary service continues to delay the inspection of transit cargoes going from Ukraine to Germany and the Baltic countries, as a result of which trucks stand in queues for 12-14 days.

At the same time, the Polish authorities are asking the EU for additional funds to compensate farmers and ensure the transit of Ukrainian products.

Wojciechovskyi sees the solution to the problem in financial support from the EU for the transit of Ukrainian grain for re-export and the extension of import restrictions until the end of the year, otherwise the countries neighboring Ukraine will once again experience a crisis in the domestic market. He said that the EU can help Ukraine export approximately 4 million tons of grain every month, but now only 2-3% of Ukrainian agricultural products are delivered from the EU to third countries.

At the beginning of May, the European Commission decided to distribute 100 million euros between five countries that declared problems due to increased supplies of products from Ukraine.

Also, on May 2, the European Commission introduced measures to eliminate logistical problems with the import of certain types of Ukrainian grain, and obliged Poland, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Bulgaria to cancel their unilateral restrictions on the import of wheat, corn, rapeseed, sunflower and other goods from Ukraine. On the initiative of Ursula von der Leyen, a coordination platform was created to resolve the situation with the export of Ukrainian agricultural products.