Unofficially: the European Commission is ready to ban grain imports from Ukraine

The issue of the import ban is to be discussed on Wednesday at a meeting between Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis and representatives of Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, as well as Bulgaria and Romania and . The Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, is also to take part in these talks, scheduled for 16.00.

Grain from Ukraine. The European Commission has to make a decision

For the time being, this is one of the Commission’s proposals to be considered, which would lead to solving the problem of excessive Ukrainian imports. It foresees that unilateral decisions would be replaced by action at EU level. The ban would apply to five countries that reported problems – Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.

The legal basis on which the European Commission could make such extraordinary decisions without having to launch an investigation has been checked, the Brussels correspondent of Polish Radio found out. However, the scope of the import ban that the Commission could decide on would be narrower than the one introduced by Poland on Saturday. Ukraine’s consent would also be required for such extraordinary measures and a ban on imports of selected products, in order to avoid possible appeals against the decision to the World Trade Organization.

The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen is to send a letter today to the leaders of five countries, including Poland, who in late March called for action in connection with excessive imports of Ukrainian grain. According to the Brussels correspondent of Polish Radio, Beata Płomecka, this letter should contain all proposed solutions to the problem.

Grain crisis. PiS MP Radosław Fogiel: The case will be closed when we get rid of four excess tons of grain

. Journalist Jacek Gądek said that the government had failed Polish farmers and that the actions it was taking were “desperate firefighting”. – The arrangements at the very beginning looked a bit different. Added to this were factors such as the flooding of world markets with Russian grain, which is twice as cheap as European grain. The combination of these factors led to the problem, Fogiel replied.

The PiS MP also disagreed with the thesis that the government’s actions are “desperate”. “We have been looking for an agreement on European soil for the last few weeks, if not months,” he said. He also stressed that the agreement with the Ukrainian side had been signed and grain transit would resume from April 21. Jacek Gądek’s interlocutor said that the problem has not yet been resolved. – The case will be closed when we get rid of these four excess tons of grain from Poland he said. He also stressed that the grain issue did not lead to the Polish-Ukrainian crisis. At the same time, he assured that next week there will be legislative proposals regarding further regulation of the grain market.