On Monday, Ukraine filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) because three EU countries, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, maintained the blockade of Ukrainian grain exports, the Ministry of Economy announced in Kyiv.
According to the position of the Ukrainian ministry, Kyiv considers such restrictions a violation of the international obligations of the EU countries concerned.
For us, it is of fundamental importance to prove that individual member countries cannot ban the import of Ukrainian products. That is why we initiated proceedings through the WTO
– Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Yuliya Szviridenko was quoted on one of the government’s websites.
At the same time, we hope that these states will withdraw their restrictions, so that there will be no need to settle our relations in lengthy court proceedings
– He told. “We need solidarity with them and the protection of farmers’ interests,” Szviridenko added.
| The Spanish minister of agriculture called the Hungarian, Polish and Slovak decision a violation of the law. According to Luis Planas Puchades, the three states cannot unilaterally exclude Ukrainian grain from their markets. The minister asks the European Commission to take action on the matter. |
In May, the European Union temporarily allowed five member states – Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia – to ban imports of wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower from Ukraine to protect local farmers. However, the European Commission did not extend the ban on the import of Ukrainian grain, which expires on September 15, because it considered that the market distortions in the five member states have been eliminated as a result of the measures taken since May. In response, Warsaw, Budapest and Bratislava announced their own restrictions on Ukrainian grain imports.
