There is an EU regulation that prohibits the free import of Ukrainian grains and oilseeds to Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania, but allows their transit through the territory of these countries.
EU Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski said the EU will agree after June 5 on the continuation of a regulation banning the free trade of wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower from Ukraine to five Eastern European countries. . He said this to Radio Zet.
According to Voitsekhovsky, from May 2 to June 5, an EU regulation will be implemented that prohibits the free import of Ukrainian grains and oilseeds to Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania, but their transit through the territory of this country will be allowed. At the same time, the ban is imposed only on the “most sensitive products” that are excessively imported.
He noted that in the list of products proposed by the five countries for a ban, there are some more items that are imported excessively, but so far in the market, in particular Poland, there are no interruptions due to them.
“For example, there was a problem with honey. We analyzed the data, it turned out that in 2022 less honey arrived in Poland than in 2021, before the war,” said the European Commissioner.
Regarding the poultry meat issue, there might be a safety clause to apply.
“The European Commission is studying the market and, depending on the results of this analysis, it may decide to introduce import quotas,” said the European Commissioner, adding that before trade liberalization, the import quota for in Ukraine is 90,000 tons of chicken meat.
“Today, however, these imports from Ukraine have increased by 80% across the EU, which is a significant increase,” said Voitskhovsky.
According to him, Polish farmers who now sell grain can take advantage of state support and subsidies. There is a demand for the grain, but there is no consistency due to its low price.
The European Commissioner believes that the Polish economy benefits greatly from the liberalization of trade in Ukraine.
“10 billion euros is the value of Polish exports to Ukraine in 2022, that is, a third of EU exports. Imports are six billion euros, and four billion euros is a surplus,” he said.
Recall that the EC approved a program to support Polish farmers for €435 million.
Source: korrespondent
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