Valdis Dombrovskis said that the agreement offers a solution to the concerns of farmers in Ukraine and neighboring EU countries.
Explaining the details, he announced,
the four member states – Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Bulgaria – that introduced a ban on the import of agricultural products from Ukraine withdraw the unilateral measure, and the agreement includes EU safeguards for four products, wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds.
The Brussels body and the affected member states agreed to examine what other products could be subject to safeguard measures, he said. Among these, the EU Commissioner mentioned sunflower oil.
He said:
the European Commission provides a support package of 100 million euros to the affected farmers in the five member states.
The parties are also working to ensure the export of Ukrainian agricultural products on the solidarity routes established for this purpose – informed the EU Commissioner.
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, welcomed the agreement in principle on the transit of four types of Ukrainian grain and seeds in her message. The agreement preserves Ukraine’s export capacity, thus feeding the world and protecting the livelihood of European farmers, he emphasized.
In mid-April, the leaders of five EU member states, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania, asked the European Commission to take action in the case of Ukrainian grain flowing into Europe duty-free and causing damage to local farmers.
Prior to this, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Bulgaria unilaterally introduced an import ban on Ukrainian agricultural products.
