On Tuesday 21 June, MEPs presented ideas to improve the efficiency of the food corridors at the Polish-Ukrainian border, which have been set up because of the war in Ukraine triggered by Russia.
A delegation from the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee, led by its chairman Norbert Lins (EPP, Germany), visited the Polish-Ukrainian border to assess the effectiveness of these corridors in facilitating exports of agricultural products.
Norbert Lins said he was “surprised” to see some grains cross the border between Ukraine and Poland, such as rapeseed, maize and sunflower oil, but very little wheat. The European Commission’s action plan on ‘Solidarity Lanes’ is not sufficiently known here, hence the need for better coordination, in his view.
On the subject of the ‘transit’ of grain, Lins also noted that there are disruptions at the border with Poland.
He said that 18 million tonnes of grain remain blocked in Black Sea ports, just under half of which is wheat.
There is no single solution to speed up the flow of wheat. The EU and neighbouring countries must take responsibility for choosing the right corridors to move grain through, according to the Committee’s chairman. “I have doubts when only border crossings with Romania are mentioned”, Lins said.
Herbert Dorfmann (EPP, Italy) spoke about the possibilities of improving technical aspects at the border (insurance for EU trucks going to Ukraine) and the transport of wheat. “This wheat has to go to Africa”, Dorfmann said.
In addition, Mr Lins said that the Commission could adopt a proposal on Wednesday 22 June providing for derogations from the rules on land rotation and set-aside for 2023, “on a temporary basis”, he insisted (see EUROPE 12971/6). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)