EU lifts bans on Ukrainian grain but Poland and Hungary move to impose unilateral restrictions
The European Commission has lifted the temporary bans on Ukrainian grain after Kyiv agreed to tighten control over its agricultural exports, Euronews reports.
But the measure failed to satisfy Poland and Hungary, which swiftly announced they would impose their own nationwide prohibitions on a unilateral basis, the very chaotic scenario that Brussels wanted to avoid at all costs.
"We will extend this ban despite their disagreement, despite the European Commission's disagreement," Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told a rally on Friday. "We will do it because it is in the interest of the Polish farmer."
Shortly after, Waldemar Buda, Poland's minister of economic development, said he had signed a new "national regulation" to keep the trade embargo in place.
"The regulation is indefinite and will enter into force after publication at midnight on 16 September," Buda said on X, formerly Twitter. "Polish farmers above all!"
Meanwhile, Hungary published a decree to block 24 Ukrainian agricultural products, including grains, vegetables, honey and several types of meat, Reuters reported. The products will be sealed at the border and allowed only transit to other countries. The temporary prohibitions lifted on Friday were first enacted on 2 May and applied to five European Union states located in Ukraine's periphery: Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria.
The countries had said the sudden increase in tariff-free, low-cost grain from Ukraine was depressing prices for local farmers after the EU suspended duties on all imports coming from the war-torn nation.
Under the restrictions, four products coming from Ukraine – wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower – were allowed to transit through the five Eastern countries but could not stay inside their markets for domestic consumption or storage.
The European Commission had committed to phasing out the bans by 15 September, even if Poland and Hungary had warned they would slap their own restrictions. Warsaw went as far as approving a resolution by the Council of Ministers and posting a video on social media featuring Prime Minister Morawiecki.
