Germany and France EU heavyweights resisted a push on Tuesday to prolong curbs on sales of Ukrainian grain exports in five eastern European nations, which has outraged Kiev.
Following Russia’s all-out invasion, the EU’s 27-nation union reduced tariffs on Ukrainian exports in an effort to assist Kyiv earn essential funds.
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However, EU countries bordering the global agricultural powerhouse began restricting imports when farmers claimed that a glut of Ukrainian grain was driving down prices.
In April, Brussels reached an agreement that permitted Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia to prohibit sales on their domestic markets while maintaining transit channels available for Ukrainian grain.
The measures are now slated to expire in mid-September, but the five countries have requested that they be extended until the end of the year.
Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, called any extension “absolutely unacceptable and frankly anti-European” on Monday.
His remark came as the attention has shifted to securing avenues for Ukraine to sell grain to global markets, following Russia’s withdrawal from a pact to transport it via the Black Sea.
At a meeting of the EU’s agricultural ministers in Brussels on Tuesday, EU countries including Germany and France reinforced Kyiv’s opposition.
Cem Ozdemir, Germany’s agriculture minister, said the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, needed to make it plain that any extension was “not possible.”
He insisted that Poland’s domestic political conflicts ahead of its election should not be played on Ukraine’s back.
“There can be no unilateral measures, no individual adventures, only a collective response to the challenge of market destabilisation,” France’s minister, Marc Fesneau, stated.
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According to a commission spokeswoman, Brussels is working “very intensively” with the five EU member states and Ukraine to find a solution.
“These are targeted and temporary measures.” They were put in place to address a very specific issue of logistical obstacles and trade facilitation in these neighbouring nations,” said spokesperson Miriam Garcia Ferrer.
