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Poland, Hungary and Slovakia said they would impose their own bans on Ukrainian grain following the European Commission’s decision to let its restrictive measure end.
Brussels announced on Friday that it would not extend a ban on Ukrainian grain imports that applied to Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria. That measure expired Friday.
Imports of Ukrainian grain, including wheat and maize, were blocked from the territory of these five countries under an agreement reached with Brussels earlier this year. Only transit to other destinations was allowed.
The measure was put in place to protect farmers in the five countries from an influx of cheap produce from their war-torn neighbor.
“The bureaucrats in Brussels are turning a blind eye to the problems of European farmers once again,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Saturday on social media. “It’s time to take matters into our own hands! Ukrainian agricultural products destined for Africa are flooding Central European markets,” Orban said.
Hungary imposed an import ban on 24 Ukrainian products such as grains, rapeseed and sunflower seeds, certain meat products, honey and eggs.
Poland moved to exclude Ukrainian agricultural products including wheat, corn and rapeseed. “We do not agree with the decision of the European Commission and in the interest of Polish farmers and consumers, we are introducing national measures,” said Piotr Müller, spokesperson for the Polish government.
The Slovak government decided to ban the import of four commodities — wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds — from Ukraine, Prime Minister Ľudovít Ódor said on Friday evening.
“We have to prevent excessive pressure on the Slovak market in order to remain fair to our farmers as well. At the same time, our step is a reaction to the similar procedure of Poland and Hungary,” Ódor said.
Romanian farmers on Saturday asked the government in Bucharest to also unilaterally ban the import of Ukrainian grain and other food products, Reuters reported. “We don’t understand why Romania would be reserved about doing the same” as Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, the farmers’ association said in a statement.
The Romanian government said it would wait for Kyiv to present its plan to prevent market distortions on Monday before deciding how to protect Romanian farmers, according to the Reuters report.
In not extending its restrictive measure, the European Commission said Ukraine will now have to ensure its grain exports do not distort the neighboring markets, according to a statement on Friday.
“We currently do not see market distortions in those five member states,” EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said in explaining the decision to let the EU measure end. “These are exceptional safeguards, not something that should be there for [an] unlimited period,” he said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the EU’s decision not to extend the ban on grain shipments, calling it “an example of true unity and trust between Ukraine and the EU” in a post on Telegram.
In a statement before the decisions by Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, Kyiv said: “Possible unilateral restrictions by some EU member countries will receive an appropriate response from Ukraine.”
“If the decisions of our neighbors are not neighborly, Ukraine will respond in a civilized manner,” Reuters quoted Zelenskyy as saying.
