Ukraine Expects European Side to Lift Restrictions on Ukrainian Agricultural Products

The European Commission’s ban on imports of Ukrainian grain to EU Member States is set to expire on 15 September.

Ukraine expects that after this date, the EU side will lift any restrictions on Ukrainian agricultural products. Such a step would stop violations of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, as well as the principles and norms of the EU Single Market. This is stated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

“To address the previously expressed concerns of some EU Member States, Ukraine and the European Commission have conducted systematic work within the framework of the Joint Coordination Platform. In particular, the parties reached agreements to increase the capacity of the Danube corridor, transfer sanitary and phytosanitary controls from the border to the countries of destination of Ukrainian products, monitor harvests, grain storage volumes, and trade flows at the border,” the diplomats noted.

The parties also outlined steps to create new grain storage facilities on EU territory, identified alternative transport corridors to the Baltic, Adriatic and Aegean Seas, and started working on the introduction of joint customs control between Ukraine and the EU Member States.

A comprehensive data and process analysis showed that Ukrainian grain exports are not the root cause of destabilisation on the EU Single Market. For the duration of the European Commission’s ban and the prolonged absence of Ukrainian agricultural products, the problems of farmers in Slovakia, Poland, Romania, and Hungary were not resolved at the level of their governments. This indicates the presence of completely different factors of market pressure, including global price changes.

“Ukraine welcomes Bulgaria’s decision to resume imports of Ukrainian grain. We call on other neighboring EU Member States to follow the same example. We believe it is appropriate to emphasise that Ukraine’s competitor in the global grain markets is the Russian Federation, which is not subject to any restrictions on grain exports to the EU. By artificially restraining the export of Ukrainian products, the Russian Federation receives additional conditions for international expansion and resources to continue its war against Ukraine,” the MFA of Ukraine stressed.

Natalia Tolub