The European Commission acknowledged on Monday 3 April that it had received a letter from five EU countries asking for measures to mitigate the effects of increased imports of Ukrainian agricultural products.
Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania, EU countries bordering Ukraine, have called for, among other things, the introduction of import quotas and tariffs to limit Ukrainian wheat imports.
A Commission spokesman replied that “the reintroduction of tariffs can only be considered when taking into account the EU market as a whole, not just the regional dimension”.
He confirmed that a second aid package for countries affected by the rise in Ukrainian imports would be presented soon.
Janusz Wojciechowski to the rescue. The Commissioner for Agriculture said he had sent a letter to Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis on 31 March asking him to consider measures to protect EU markets from large imports of Ukrainian grain, eggs and poultry. “The situation must be analysed by his department in terms of the possibility of applying protective measures”, Wojciechowski said.
Mr Wojciechowski said he was doing everything in his power to alleviate the problem, stressing that he had already proposed to mobilise €56 million from the agricultural crisis reserve, including almost €30 million for Poland (see EUROPE 13153/3).
The Commissioner said that the increase in imports mainly concerned wheat, barley, maize, rapeseed, sunflower seeds and sunflower oil. The Commissioner for Agriculture added that the growth in imports of these products amounts to 8.7 million tonnes year-on-year in 2022, of which 3.3 million tonnes for Poland. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)