Poland among signees of letter to EC on Ukrainian products say PAP sources

The agriculture ministers of Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia have written another letter to the EC in the matter concerning agricultural products from Ukraine, sources have told PAP.

According to the sources, the import ban that was in place did not apply to goods imported under contracts signed before the EU regulation came into force.

In the letter seen by PAP, its authors wrote that although they valued the agreement which was negotiated with the EC and the actions taken to mitigate the effects of increased imports of agricultural and food products from Ukraine, they felt that the solutions implemented by the EC may turn out to be ineffective and insufficient.

In the opinion of the ministers, what was needed was confirmation from the EC that, along with the entry into force of the new regulation on the suspension of duties for the coming year, an EC regulation extending preventive measures on four products until the end of this year will also be implemented.

The ministers also indicated that the losses incurred by farmers in their countries significantly exceeded the proposed level of support. Therefore, they appealed to the EC to adjust the level of support to actual losses and to deploy additional funds.

On April 28, the EC reached an agreement with Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia on Ukrainian agri-food products, and on May 2 it announced the adoption of temporary preventive measures regarding imports of wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower from Ukraine.

At the same time, as indicated by the EC, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia have committed themselves to lift unilateral measures concerning these and all other products originating from Ukraine. But grains from Ukraine can still be transported through the territories of these five countries.