The European Commission has officially announced the introduction of “exceptional and temporary” precautionary measures against imports from Ukraine. It limits the supply of certain agricultural products to 5 EU countries bordering Ukraine. This is reported on the website of the European Commission.
Because of the Russian war of aggression, Ukraine can export fewer agricultural products by sea. Instead, the country uses the overland route through the EU. In neighboring countries, however, this is causing full silos and falling producer prices. Now the EU Commission is reacting.
The measures are necessary due to serious logistical bottlenecks faced by the five Member States.
The measures concern only four agricultural products — wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds of Ukrainian origin. They aim to eliminate bottlenecks in the logistics of these products in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. The measures will enter into force on May 2 and will last until June 5, 2023.
It is noted that during this period Ukraine can supply wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds without restrictions to all EU member states, except for five front-line member states. Goods can continue to circulate within these five Member States or transit through them. As before, they may use common customs transit procedure or go to a country or territory outside the EU.
Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia have to cancel their restrictions.
The background to the conflict is, among other things, that farmers in states particularly affected by the imports had complained about the competition. In response, states such as Poland and Hungary had independently restricted the import of certain goods. These national measures would now be lifted, the EU Commission announced. Because of the war, important export routes of Ukraine across the Black Sea were blocked for a long time. The country under attack is now much more dependent on bringing goods to the world market by train, truck or barge.
At the same time, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia pledged to cancel their unilateral measures on wheat, corn, rape and sunflower seeds, as well as any other products coming from Ukraine.
The first details of the agreement had already become known on Friday. Ukraine welcomed the agreement reached over the weekend. A blockade of Ukrainian imports would not only harm Ukraine, but also cause great suffering to the Middle East and Africa, said Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko at a meeting of EU finance ministers in Stockholm on Saturday.
“Problem is only being pushed further within the EU”
CDU agricultural politician Norbert Lins, on the other hand, criticized parts of the agreement. “The problem is not solved, but only pushed further within the EU,” said the chairman of the EU Parliament’s Agriculture Committee. He called the protective measures adopted by the Commission a sham solution. “It will only take a few days before the riparian states will complain about grain on their markets,” he said. For example, he said, it is necessary to consider how specially developed trade routes between Ukraine and the EU could be taken to the next level.
The European Commission is ready to continue applying precautionary measures after the current regulatory rules on autonomous trade measures expire on June 5, 2023, if this exceptional situation continues.