Five frontline European countries – Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia, and Romania – insist that the EU list of agricultural import bans from Ukraine should be “flexible.” According to Interfax-Ukraine, Polish Agriculture Minister Robert Telusz said this in a commentary to Polish radio station RMF FM following a meeting in the Spanish city of Cordoba of five heads of agriculture ministries from Ukraine’s neighboring countries.
The idea is that a product can be removed from the list if its imports are desirable, or a new product can be added in case of excessive imports.
According to Mr. Telusch, the “flexible list” opens the field for bargaining. This means that the five countries will not be able to stand firmly behind the EU’s list of four products currently banned, which includes wheat, corn, sunflower seeds, and rapeseed.
“We have a small problem with Bulgaria,” the Polish agriculture minister admitted.
According to him, Bulgaria wants sunflower seeds to be removed from the list, as Bulgarian processors need to import them from Ukraine.
The Polish minister admitted that he had heard that the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen had promised Ukraine that she would not agree to extend the ban.
As a reminder, on June 5, the European Commission extended the restrictions on exports of wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower from Ukraine to Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia until September 15, but allowed the transit of these goods to these countries.
Source: Apkinform