In the scramble for cheap grain from Ukraine, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has announced protective measures and additional funds. Specifically, she proposed an additional aid package of 100 million euros to compensate the affected farmers, according to a letter to Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania, according to the AFP news agency.
Money is flowing in on top of the €56m emergency aid that has already been awarded. Eastern European countries had already banned grain imports from Ukraine or threatened to do so. However, such “unilateral measures” played “into the hands of Ukraine’s enemies”, warned von der Leyen in his letter.
Eastern European farmers complain about falling prices
The background for this is the complaints of farmers in Eastern Europe about falling prices. As a result of the Russian war of aggression, Ukraine can export less agricultural products by sea to Africa, for example, but uses the land route through the EU. In neighboring countries such as Poland, this means full silos and falling producer prices.
“Solidarity corridors” for Ukrainian grain through the EU must remain in place to supply developing countries, von der Leyen said in his letter. In return, Brussels wants to help producers of wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seeds in Eastern Europe. It is possible that tariffs on Ukrainian agricultural imports will be levied again in the future.
Hungary extends import ban
The drop in prices of other products should also be discussed. Hungary, for example, recently stopped importing honey, wine, sugar and meat from Ukraine.
According to the Warsaw government, it agreed yesterday with Kiev strict conditions for the transit of grain through Poland. The objective is that “not a ton of grain is left in Poland”.
Today, Bulgaria has also imposed an import ban on Ukrainian grain. Hungary, for its part, expanded its ban: in addition to grains and oilseeds, honey, wine, bread, sugar and various other meat and vegetable products were also subject to the import ban.