The European Commission will allow countries neighboring Ukraine and major critics with the increase of his grain importsas is the case in Poland and Hungary, activate an emergency mechanism to veto grain from this country. Yes, they will be able to receive it to export it to the rest of the European Union.

This is one of the measures in the package that the Economic Vice President, Valdis Dombrovskis, and the Agriculture Commissioner, Janusz Wojciechowski, have proposed to the leaders of Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia at their meeting on Wednesday, in which representatives of Ukraine have also participated.

However, the Commission specified in a statement at the end of the meeting that this measure is subject to Poland and Hungary lifting their “unilateral” measuresIn reference to veto they announced earlier this week for the agri-food products from Ukraine before the volume of grain imports.

“We underline the importance of quickly following a common approach of the EU, instead of unilateral solutions, to avoid multiple prohibitions and solutions that endanger the internal market”, have indicated the representatives of the Community Executive.

At the end of the meeting it was agreed to continue political consultations in the coming days with a view to a “quick solution”.

Community sources have explained that this emergency veto can be activated through a special immediate safeguard clause that will allow the entry of imports in the five most critical countries with the increase in imports of Ukrainian grain solely for transit and transportation to other EU member states or to the rest of the world.

100 million euros for affected farmers in the East

The package proposed by the Commission also includes a second tranche of 100 million euros of financial assistance to affected farmers, exceptional safeguard measures for key products and measures to facilitate the transit of Ukrainian grain exports through solidarity corridors.

The duration of this measure will be extended for as long as necessary to undo the blockades that neighboring countries have alleged in the face of the accumulation of grain and will not require the approval of the Member States, as it is an emergency preventive measure.

It is, as the same sources have explained, a mechanism at EU level for exceptional circumstances and a proportional solution to the problem that will also allow the EU to be prepared for any emergency circumstance in the future.

In a letter sent to the leaders of the countries neighboring Ukraine, the president of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has already advanced that Brussels was going to adopt preventive safeguard measuresincluded in the regulation on autonomous trade measures, given what it has described as “unforeseen consequences” of the “unexpected” increase in imports of Ukrainian grain.

However, he warned in his letter that “unilateral” measures can only “play in favor of Ukraine’s adversaries” and must not “erode the unwavering support” of the EU.