Ukraine will submit “in a few hours” a complaint to the World Trade Organization regarding the ban on grain imports from this country to Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, according to Deputy Economy Minister Taras Kachka. quoted by Bloomberg.
Ukrainian grains unloaded in the port of ConstanțaPhoto: Vadim Ghirda / AP / Profimedia
Kiev also plans to retaliate with its own bans on imports of more products if similar restrictions are not lifted, and could target goods such as onions and apples from Poland and cars from Hungary, Kachka said on Monday.
The European Commission announced on Friday that it will not extend the ban on Ukrainian grain imports to Ukraine’s five neighboring EU states. In May, the European Union authorized five member states (Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia) to prohibit the sale on their territory of wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds from Ukraine, the condition being that they do not prevent the transit to other countries.
Poland, Slovakia and Hungary have now announced they will implement their own restrictions on grain imports from Ukraine, their governments said on Friday, while Romania said it was awaiting Ukraine’s action and would then make a decision on appropriate measures to protect Romanian farmers.
Romanian farmers asked the Government to ban, on the model of Poland, the imports of a series of agricultural products from Ukraine.
Ciolacu announces a 30-day ban until Ukraine comes up with a licensing proposal
Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu announced on Monday that he will ask the Ministers of Agriculture and Economy for a joint order to extend the ban on the import of Ukrainian grain for a period of 30 days, indicating that he is waiting for a licensing proposal from the Prime Minister of Ukraine, after the European Commission requested to come up with a licensing system regarding the export of cereals in the EU states. The Head of the Executive stated that since the Commission made the decision not to extend the ban, not a single kilogram of wheat or anything else has been imported into Romania.
“First and foremost, there was a pec discussion that I had on Saturday and Sunday, with the Prime Minister of Ukraine and the Commission. You saw, the Commission requested to come up with a licensing system regarding the export of grain to the EU states, something that I and my colleague Victor Negrescu requested when we had the meeting with the President of the Commission”, he said the PSD president after the meeting of the party leadership.
“Ukraine’s prime minister came with the same logic, saying that a rigorous control will still be necessary. Up to this moment, since the Commission took the decision not to extend the ban, not a single kilogram of wheat or anything else has been imported into Romania, something that will also continue today, not that Ciolacu banned or put in the first – the minister or the Government ban on customs. It was a gentlemen’s agreement between me and the Prime Minister of Ukraine that we both respected. There was no request for any grain export from Ukraine to Romania. Up to this moment, more than likely today we are waiting, and so I was promised by the Prime Minister of Ukraine, that he will send me this licensing proposal for us to discuss. In the event that there will be export requests for Romania, I will definitely ask the Minister of Agriculture, first of all, the Minister of Economy, because we are also talking about trade, to make a joint order for a period of 30 days until I clarify things so that the restriction is extended”, Marcel Ciolacu also said.
The Prime Minister showed that “the understanding was that there will be no export requests on Romanian territory”. “First of all, the Ukrainian side stuck to it, and the second agreement was that during today’s day he will send me the draft that we are discussing with the Commission and with us. We are talking about the four products that have been banned so far”, said the head of the Executive.
Ciolacu mentioned that so far, with the special efforts made by the Minister of Transport, we have reached 2.5 million tons of grain to transit Romania per month.
“We cannot continue that 90% of transit is only by road. Romania had some rapid investments, through the Ministry of Transport, both on railways and on the transit on the Danube”, Ciolacu pointed out.
Bulgarian farmers blocked the customs at the border with Romania
Hundreds of Bulgarian farmers are protesting, on Monday, at the Ruse-Giurgiu and Vidin-Calafat border crossing points, where traffic is restricted, against the European Commission’s decision to lift the ban on Ukrainian grain imports into the five neighboring EU states of Ukraine. including Romania and Bulgaria.
According to the Territorial Inspectorate of the Giurgiu Border Police, the Bulgarian authorities have announced that starting at 10:00 a.m. there will be protests by Bulgarian grain producers in the Ruse-Giurgiu PTF and Vidin-Calafat PTF area.
