They are allies in the war against Russia, but enemies at the table. Poland is one of Ukraine’s most unconditional military partners in defense against the invader, but its veto on Ukrainian agricultural imports is causing a serious problem in the European Union and in bilateral relations. The Polish government has closed its market for these products, contrary to European Commission guidelines. Kiev responded on Tuesday by announcing that it would ban the import of certain Polish vegetables and fruits into its territory.
Taras Kachka, Deputy Minister of Economy and Trade of Ukraine, confirmed to the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita that Kiev would ban the import of Polish onions, tomatoes, cabbage and apples into his country in the coming days. “The main reason [de la decisión] is intended to show that Poland has no right to enforce these measures. We disagreed with his veto from the beginning,” Kachka said. “We must move forward with the right decision, and that is dialogue with the European Commission as the institution responsible for international trade.” Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Schmihal also made it clear in a statement on Tuesday that the restrictions also apply to Hungarian products could.
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Poland, Hungary and Slovakia are imposing bans on Ukrainian agricultural imports, although the European Commission has ordered the lifting of any restrictions on such trade from Kiev from September 16. The authorities of the three European states argue that their agricultural sector cannot compete with Ukrainian prices. The Ukrainian government, Shmihal confirmed, had already filed a complaint against the three at the World Trade Organization. Shmihal also announced that his executive branch had launched an investigation to determine “the hostile moves of these countries” in trade and the impact on their economies.
The European Commission approved a suspension of tariffs on most Ukrainian agricultural imports to the EU in 2022, shortly after the Russian invasion began. Protests in five Eastern European countries – Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia – forced Brussels last May to impose restrictions on imports of wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds into these EU member states. After that deadline, and given Kiev’s commitment to take measures to limit the impact of its exports to these five territories, the Commission confirmed that the restrictions ended on September 16. Hungary, Poland and Slovakia have reimposed unilateral bans.
The Ukrainian ambassador called for consultations
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Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine, criticized these countries on Tuesday during his speech to the United Nations General Assembly. “It is alarming to see how some of our friends in Europe play the role of solidarity at the political level, but make a soap opera about the grain issue,” Zelensky said. The president added that they appeared to be playing into Moscow’s hands. The Polish reaction was not long in coming. The Ukrainian ambassador in Warsaw was invited to consultations by the Polish Foreign Ministry, while Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki emphasized that his government was the one that made the most efforts to receive refugees and, moreover, was one of the main arms donors to Kiev .
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry had already summoned the Polish ambassador on August 1, after the State Secretary of the Polish Presidency, Marcin Przydacz, defended the veto on agricultural products and called on the Ukrainian authorities to “show a little gratitude for the help they provided received from Poland.”
Jozef Hrabina, Slovak analyst at the security and political analysis group Geopolitics, tells EL PAÍS that Ukrainian exports by road “saturate the agricultural markets” of their neighboring countries and “cause serious damage to small and medium-sized businesses with very low prices.” . Hrabina emphasizes that Kiev has a competitive advantage in prices because it does not comply with EU standards and regulations on quality and agricultural processes: “These countries want to support the export of products to other countries, but it is normal for them to do so “Don’t want to do any damage to our own countries.” Agricultural sector in the face of unequal competition.”
New route through the Black Sea
The blockade of the Black Sea by the Russian fleet has boosted road exports. This has become even worse after Russia broke the agreement with the United Nations and Turkey last July to secure a maritime corridor for the export of Ukrainian grain. Kiev is one of the largest grain producers in the world. The United Nations and Turkey managed to reach an agreement with the two warring countries to export this raw material, thus mitigating the rise in international prices for essential products such as wheat. Moscow broke the deal in July, saying the lifting of US and EU sanctions on its agricultural exports was not guaranteed.
But Ukraine believes it has found an alternative. The first ship with its grain arrived in Romania this Wednesday on a new route to export this product from the Russian-occupied country. The ship “Resilient Africa” loaded with 3,000 tons of wheat arrived this Wednesday in the Romanian port of Mangalia, without leaving Ukrainian territorial waters and without having access to international waters. The Resilient Africa will cross the Black Sea from Romania, a NATO member state. The parties involved assume that Russian warships will not dare to sink a grain transport ship leaving an alliance country.
Russia regularly penalizes the port city of Ismail at the mouth of the Danube, a river that borders the border with Romania and through which part of agricultural transport passes that cannot cross the Black Sea to the Bosphorus. Ukrainian authorities reported on Wednesday that a cement cargo ship traveling from Turkey to Ismail had to be rescued after an explosion. According to media such as CNN and Visegrád, the Togo-flagged ship “Seama” is said to have encountered an underwater mine, although those responsible for the Romanian sea rescue did not yet want to confirm the causes of the shipwreck. The Romanian rescue services have rescued the crew, consisting of 12 sailors, from the Romanian port of Sulina.
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