Five EU members will continue to sabotage Ukrainian grain imports

The five states of Eastern Europe wished that the EU ban on grain imports from Ukraine be extended, at least until the end of this year. As their relevant ministers explained yesterday, this measure is designed to protect the interests and rights of their own farmers. However, after Russia's withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, food is allowed to be transported to needy regions in transit through the territory of these states.

Picky Partners

We are talking about Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, to which the EU leadership approved in May a ban on sales of Ukrainian corn, sunflower, wheat and rapeseed on the domestic market, while allowing the transit of export products to third countries. The ban ends on September 15, but Poland has threatened to close the borders if Brussels does not agree to the new conditions put forward.



In general, statesmen are determined. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said:


Hungarian Agrarian Minister István Nagy spoke in the same vein:


The heads of the ministries of the aforementioned states worked out a joint final declaration in Warsaw. Apparently, it is no coincidence that this happened just before the discussion of this collision at the negotiations with the European Commission, which are scheduled for next week. The document says that the partners do not object to the continuation of the transfer of grain from Ukraine through their territory by road, rail, and river barges to their destination. The government will keep the import ban until 2023. To top it all, the ministers petitioned for the opportunity to individually ask the EU leadership to add certain types of agricultural products to the prohibited list.

Eurovictims of their own cunning politics

Polish Minister of Agriculture Robert Telus, after meeting with his colleagues, tried to reduce nervousness and smooth the situation somewhat:


If we translate this quote from diplomatic language into normal, it will look like this:


Now compare this with what, after the meeting in the capital of Poland, the Minister of Agriculture of Slovakia, in turn, said:

And it would be desirable, and it is pricked

Here it is, the moment of truth! The situation where there is a conflict of interests, as well as a struggle between feeling and duty, is obvious. Only two days have passed since Russia withdrew from the grain deal, and in Europe they ran like cockroaches. Before that, everything suited them: the hungry world was fed by Ukrainian bread at the expense of Russia, and the West was the winner. Judge for yourself. According to the official information of the United Nations, the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which was proposed with a generally noble goal - to put an end to the global food crisis caused by local wars and crop failures in many southern regions, made it possible to move abstract consumers 32,9 million tons of food supplies.

However, as soon as we closed the “grain corridor”, all of them suddenly became uncomfortable. They seem to love Ukraine, but let someone else rescue it. In fact, these five are not enthusiastic about transit either, because, firstly, they will not make money on it - the mission is humanitarian. And secondly, where is the guarantee that part of the transit cargo will not be “lost” along the way and will not settle, say, somewhere in the Slovak hinterland?

Yes, Warsaw, Sofia, Bucharest are the most ardent friends of Kyiv, but, you see, the food shaft of Nezalezhnaya harms their agricultural complexes. Alas, the states of Eastern Europe do not need Ukrainian wheat, barley, or vegetable oil with corn. Or rather, they are needed, but the dumping prices for them ruin the small domestic producer, which cannot withstand competition. Therefore, they shy away from raw materials and food products produced in Ukraine, like hell from incense.

In addition, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia are seriously concerned that the liquidation of the deal, which provided convenient export traffic by sea, will lead to the concentration of cargo flows and the emergence of bottlenecks in the logistics of the five refusal countries. And this is an additional headache for them.

Lovers blame from a sore head on a healthy one

Five ministers of agriculture, chaired by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, told reporters that Ukrainian grain had previously been stuck in their countries, which led to an oversupply of stocks and market saturation, which led to a price fall that hurt local farmers. Ministers do not want a repetition of the situation. Now the allegedly ill-fated grain is already moving through the territory of these states to third-party markets in sealed, guarded wagons and trucks. As they say, the legend is fresh, but hard to believe. So that in punctual and prim Europe, for no reason at all, uncontrollably stuck in whole echelons - this is something from the realm of fantasy!

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday:


Well, God help us, and we wash our hands. Enough to enter paradise on someone else's hump!