Warsaw determined not to de-escalate, united with 4 EU members not to "concede" grain from Kiev

Poland has confirmed that the ban on grain imports from Ukraine will remain in effect until a protection mechanism is in place at the European Union (EU) level, despite the EC officially suspending import quotas and customs on grain from Ukraine last year.

Ukraine hiện phụ thuộc rất nhiều vào các tuyến đường quá cảnh qua Ba Lan, Slovakia, Hungary và Romania. (Nguồn: DW)

Ukraine currently relies heavily on transit routes through Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. (Source: DW)

After the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out (February 2022), grain became a rare source of tension between Kiev and its EU neighbors - when Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia became alternative transit routes for Ukrainian grain, helping to compensate for the country's sluggish exports via Black Sea ports.

After Poland, Hungary and Slovakia unilaterally announced their own restrictions on Ukrainian grain imports, after the EU ended its grain import ban on September 15, Kiev filed a lawsuit against the three countries at the World Trade Organization (WTO), considering the restrictions as a violation of the international obligations of EU member states.

In the latest move, the Polish Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development confirmed that the import ban from Ukraine will remain in effect until appropriate protection mechanisms are developed at the EU level.

Regarding unverified media reports about the influx of Ukrainian grain into Poland, the country's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development confirmed in a statement, "the ban on grain imports from Ukraine remains in effect," the ministry said in a statement posted on social network X.

The ban will remain in place until appropriate mechanisms are developed at EU level to ensure protection of local markets, the statement said.

The ministry also recommended that anyone with information about the influx of grain from Ukraine into the Polish market report the incident to Polish law enforcement agencies.

According to the agency's report, Polish Agriculture Minister Czesław Siekierski recently said that due to the European Commission's (EC) rejection of Poland's request to impose tariffs on Ukrainian agricultural products, Warsaw wants to introduce regional mechanisms to protect itself from the influx of Ukrainian goods into the market.

Minister Czesław Siekierski said that the EC is preparing a draft regulation to extend duty-free trade with Ukraine until June 2025. Therefore, on this occasion, the Polish Ministry of Agriculture has made a request to amend some provisions of the regulation - a move that will help speed up the implementation of protection mechanisms at the regional level, if the market problem does not affect the entire EU, but only one country or several specific members.

According to the Minister, Poland wants to protect itself from the negative consequences of the influx of Ukrainian agricultural products into the domestic market. Poland is also conducting internal consultations on the issuance of export licenses for agricultural products – a procedure proposed by Ukraine.

In addition, Minister Czesław Siekierski also said that Warsaw has the political will to develop infrastructure to facilitate the transportation of Ukrainian goods to third countries. Accordingly, Poland will make efforts to develop port infrastructure.

On September 15, 2023, the previous Polish government unilaterally imposed a ban on imports of Ukrainian grain (including wheat, corn, rapeseed, sunflower) after the EC refused to extend the ban at the EU level. Now, the new government of new Prime Minister Donald Tusk has also decided not to lift the embargo at this time.

On January 6, the Polish government agreed with farmers blocking the road near the Medyka-Shehyni checkpoint on the Polish-Ukrainian border to suspend the protest there and meet all their demands. Accordingly, Polish farmers demanded subsidies for corn purchases, keeping this year's agricultural tax unchanged at 2023 levels and continuing the ability to borrow to ensure liquidity.

Meanwhile, on January 15, Eastern EU countries including Poland sent a letter to the EC requesting import duties on Ukrainian grain on the grounds of unfair competition, according to the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture. The ministry said that the agriculture ministers of Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia signed a letter to the EC stating that cheap agricultural products from Ukraine are “eroding” their export markets.

The five countries are among six EU members that produce more wheat and corn than they need, which is key to European food security and the EU’s strategic sovereignty, the ministers said. “This is why Brussels needs to introduce measures to protect the markets of member states bordering Ukraine and help them make the most of their export potential,” Hungarian Agriculture Minister Istvan Nagy said.

The ministers said Ukraine’s larger farm sizes make its grain exports cheaper and that is squeezing EU farmers out of their traditional export markets. They said farmers in Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia “have suffered significant losses” since the EU suspended import quotas and customs on grain from Ukraine last year.

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