Poland has warned that it will not open its borders to imports of Ukrainian grain, even as the European Commission decided to end a ban on imports of four grains from Ukraine among the five countries in the EU’s east. Warnings left.
This Tuesday, the Polish Council of Ministers adopted a resolution in which it warns the European Commission that it will extend the embargo on Ukrainian grain beyond September 15.
“The Committee of Ministers urges the European Commission to extend the ban on imports of four agricultural products from Ukraine: wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seeds beyond 15 September 2023. of local producers in Poland and the EU”, reads a Polish government statement released this afternoon.
The executive, led by Mateusz Morawiecki, warns that “if the European Commission does not extend the ban on grain imports from Ukraine after September 15, Poland will introduce such a ban at the national level.”
The ‘break’, as the note explains, will remain in place “until agricultural relations between Poland and Ukraine are regulated”.
The Polish government explains that it aims to prevent Ukrainian grain from disrupting Poland’s domestic agricultural market.
“We help our neighbors, but we must protect Polish farmers,” the government said.
It may be recalled that in May this year, the European Commission imposed a ban on the import of the above-mentioned grain from Ukraine to Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Romania under pressure from farmers’ protests. On June 5, the embargo was extended to September 15, and the 5 countries that ‘complained’ about Ukrainian grain want the embargo to continue at least until the end of the year, and to be extended to other products. .