“European Commission imposes ban on Ukrainian sunflower oil imports amid trade dispute with Poland”

The European Commission has agreed to impose a ban on the import of sunflower oil from Ukraine, but the transit of this product will be allowed.

This was stated by the Minister of Agriculture of Poland Robert Telus. “European Truth” with reference to a Polish radio station RMF FM.

Telus said that Poland would not abandon the unilateral blockade of Ukrainian imports until Polish conditions were met.

“We are not going to abandon the actions we have taken at this moment if we do not receive the appropriate tools that will ensure that the Polish farmer will be safe when it comes to issues related to trade, the flow of goods from Ukraine to Poland,” Telus said. in Luxembourg after negotiations with the European Commission.

Earlier, the European Commission agreed to impose a ban on the import of products such as wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds.

“We are still negotiating other products,” the Polish minister said, adding that “in addition to these five, we would like to include flour, honey, sugar, soft fruit (frozen), eggs, meat (especially poultry), milk and dairy products, as well as apple juice and apple concentrate.”

As the radio station notes, the European Commission may agree to expand the list of agricultural products with a ban on imports, help with grain exports or include more agricultural products in the examination procedure, but the proposed amount of support of 100 million euros is not negotiable.

It is unofficially known that Polish farmers will receive almost 40 million euros from this fund. Taking into account the possibility of a 200% subsidy from the state budget, this will give a total of 120 million euros.

As reported, the third round of negotiations between European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis and Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski with the ministers of agriculture of five countries that are fighting excessive imports of agricultural products from Ukraine, ended in failure.

Last week, the European Commission offered Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary 100 million euros of support to lift their ban on agricultural imports from Ukraine.

The EC also agreed to ban the import of wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds from Ukraine until June. But after that, the ministers of agriculture of Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary demanded to expand the list of products, which are banned. The expansion of the list, according to the media, is beginning to annoy the European Commission.

Read more in the article: Grain compromise: how Brussels wants to resolve the crisis with Ukrainian exports to the EU. A detailed analysis of the causes of this crisis can be found in our video on why friendly Poland hit Ukrainian exportsand who will help Ukraine.