Romanian Minister of Agriculture on Ukrainian grain: Decisions to be taken must not harm the country
Romanian Agriculture Minister Petre Daea told Digi24 that legal solutions to the Ukrainian grain crisis must be sought and that decisions to be taken must not prejudice the country through costly procedural measures. According to him, the European Commission is already critical and says that a unilateral position is unacceptable.
"Safeguard measures should be taken at customs to be able to stop this influx. Let the FAO, that is the world food programme, come into play so that they can get into the countries concerned under strict control. And last but not least, a very clear monitoring by the European Union of all the quantities of cereals and not only cereals entering this corridor, Ukraine and the European Union countries," the minister said.
The minister added that his Ukrainian counterpart will discuss the grain crisis with Romanian officials on Wednesday. Discussions on the matter are taking place today in Warsaw. Kiev is trying to reopen the transit of food and grain through Poland.
Poland and Hungary announced on Saturday a ban on imports of grain and other food from Ukraine to protect their local agricultural sectors. Bulgaria is also considering a ban on Ukrainian grain imports.
The European Commission announced today that the decisions of the two countries are not acceptable and has asked for further information from the competent authorities so that it can assess the legal measures taken. It also announced that it will launch a second aid package for farmers in the affected countries.
