Poland and Ukraine have reached an agreement on the resumption of the transit of Ukrainian grain, which was suspended on Saturday, the Polish Minister of Agriculture said on Tuesday 18 April.
“We have managed to put in place mechanisms that will ensure that not a single tonne of wheat will remain in Poland, that the goods will transit through Poland”, as of next Saturday, said Robert Telus, after a meeting with Ukrainian officials.
Ukraine and Poland began talks on 17 April to reach an agreement following Warsaw’s decision to ban Ukrainian grain imports, accused of destabilising the country’s agricultural market, a decision deemed unacceptable by the EU (see EUROPE 13163/16).
Earlier in the day on April 18, MEPs denounced Poland's decision to ban these imports.
“We stand in solidarity with the countries affected by the situation, but we cannot applaud unilateral decisions by these countries”, S&D group president Iratxe Garcia Pérez told the press on Tuesday.
“As an example of yet another clear disregard of EU rules, the Polish PiS government has introduced an illegal ban on imports of Ukrainian agricultural and food products to the territory of Poland”, a statement from the group reads. This measure is, for the S&D, “a direct breach of the rules guarding EU’s common commercial policy and a serious blow to the EU-Ukraine partnership”.
Some eastern EU Member States have seen an increase in the flow of agricultural products from Ukraine thanks to trade preferences and ‘Solidarity Lanes’. “Both initiatives proved to be highly successful in supporting Ukraine’s war-struck economy by providing revenue and alleviating problems with wheat shortages in world markets”, the S&D group said. Polish MEP Marek Belka even spoke of a “hysterical reaction” from the Polish government.
The same protest is voiced by the EPP group: “Don’t do anything that weakens Ukraine. Make sure that Ukrainian grain reaches Africa. Don’t take unilateral action infringing EU law”.
European governments must not act “in detriment to solidarity for Ukraine” during the war, says the EPP.
The Commission is looking for solutions. European Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis told the press on Tuesday: “We are working with the Member States concerned and the Ukrainian authorities to remedy the situation. Indeed, after the creation of the ‘Solidarity Lanes’, there has been a substantial increase of Ukrainian grain imports into the EU, especially into neighbouring countries.” Various tools are available to the Commission.
The main objective of the ‘Solidarity Lanes’ was to ensure that Ukraine had alternative ways of exporting agricultural products, not just in the context of the Black Sea route blockade. “It is important to ensure that there is transit and that Ukrainian grain goes to the countries where it is primarily intended for export. We need to see how to restore transit flows and how to protect EU farmers”, the Commission Vice-President added. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur, with the editorial staff)