Three European Countries Again Say No To Ukrainian Grain

Of the five European Union countries that share a border with Ukraine, three – Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia – have decided to continue the autonomous blockade of imports of Ukrainian wheat and some other food products. This decision, which the governments of the three countries explained literally in unison by “the need to protect the interests of their own agricultural producers,” contradicts the resolution of the European Commission, which adopted on September 15 a decision to lift restrictions on the import of wheat, corn, rapeseed, and sunflower seeds from Ukraine into the territories of Bulgaria, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania.

In exchange for lifting the restrictions, Kiev agreed to take measures to prevent possible problems for markets in neighboring EU-member countries, where producers found themselves in a difficult position precisely because of the inability to compete on equal terms with Ukrainian products made at lower costs and therefore cheaper.
However, these promises were not sufficient to convince Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said in an interview with Polish radio station Polskie Radio 24, “We will not listen to what Brussels tells us, what the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen tells us, and we will act exclusively in the interests of the Polish farmer.” Hungarian Agriculture Minister István Nagy also told Balkan Insight, “We will act independently to protect Hungarian farmers.” Finally, Slovak Agriculture Minister Josef Bires told local television channel Markiza TV that “a unilateral embargo comes into force on the night of September 16 to prevent an influx of Ukrainian wheat, which could cause serious financial damage to the country’s agriculture.”