EU condemns Poland and Hungary's unilateral bans on Ukrainian agricultural imports
The spokesperson of the European Commission called the unilateral actions of the European Union's member states regarding trade unacceptable after Poland and Hungary banned the import of agricultural goods from Ukraine until June 30.
Reuters writes about this with reference to the statement of the spokesperson of the EC.
The invasion of the aggressor state Russia into Ukraine blocked some Black Sea ports and stopped the export of Ukrainian grain, which is cheaper than that produced in the European Union. Due to disruptions in logistics, grain remained in the countries of Central Europe, which affected the prices and sales of local farmers.
"We are aware of Poland and Hungary's announcements regarding the ban on imports of grain and other agricultural products from Ukraine," the spokesperson said in an emailed statement. "In this context, it is important to underline that trade policy is of EU exclusive competence and, therefore, unilateral actions are unacceptable. In such challenging times, it is crucial to coordinate and align all decisions within the EU," the statement reads.
For reference:
The government of Poland has decided to ban the import of agricultural products originating from or imported from Ukraine into its territory until June 30. The Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine responded that the decisions of the Polish side contradicted the agreements and offered to agree on a new Memorandum of Understanding, beneficial for both countries.
Later, Hungarian Minister of Agriculture Istvan Nagy announced a similar decision to ban imports.
Ukraine exports products to the EU through the land border with Poland due to the difficulty of shipping by sea as a result of the full-scale aggression of Russia. But it often remains and is sold in Poland. This caused discontent among farmers from Poland and some other countries, who demanded that the authorities solve this problem.
The head of the Polish ruling party, "Law and Justice" Yaroslav Kaczyński, said there is an asymmetry between Polish and Ukrainian agriculture due to the quality of land, the price of labor in Ukraine, and the activities of international companies with large infrastructure.
The governments of Poland and Romania wanted to ask the European Commission to develop mechanisms to help avoid price dumping to the detriment of local farmers.
Istvan Nagy said that continuing current market processes would cause "such serious" damage to Hungarian agriculture that "extraordinary measures must be taken."
