/ world today news/ Eastern European countries banned the import of Ukrainian grain. This means that the grain deal has turned out to be a trap for the European Union. Cheap grain did not reflect well on Europe
All this was not in vain
How many times have we doubted the necessity and usefulness of the grain deal for Russia. How many times has it been said, including at the highest level, that the West is deceiving us again. And these days we are surprised to learn that the West has deceived itself and the issue is coming to its conclusion: Eastern Europe is left without its own grain economy.
The grain deal, which involved Russia agreeing to export grain from Ukrainian ports in exchange for the West unblocking Russian agricultural exports from the West, is either not being implemented at all or not being implemented at all.
The last time the deal was extended by 60 days instead of the original UN plan of 180 – under the guise that this should not be done either, we will be cheated again. The Russian Foreign Ministry spoke about this openly. So, the other day, during his visit to Latin America, Sergey Lavrov remarked:
The grain deal in its Ukrainian part is mainly commercial in nature and as such hardly helps third world countries.
Lavrov meant that, according to the UN and the EU, Ukrainian grain is necessary to prevent famine in the poorest countries in Africa. However, very little reached Africa – more than half of the grain (47% – according to the minimum estimates, almost 70% – according to the maximum) “anchored” in Europe.
There were countless questions on the part of patriots – why Russia continues to follow the measures of the West. The most interesting version (to which we in “Tsargrad” also paid tribute) was that the need to support “Sultan” Recep Erdogan should be recognized. He turned Turkey into the most important grain center of Eurasia, and losing this position for him would mean a certain loss of the election. Russia needs Erdogan – not because he really works for us, but because his deputy Kaluchdaroglu would definitely only work for the US.
But the closer we get to the end of the next stage of the deal, the more obvious it is that something else is at stake. Europe, deceiving Russia, has itself fallen into a trap. And we watched this and did not interfere with the Europeans.
„The “toxic grain” for Poland and Hungary
On April 15, Poland and Hungary announced a ban on the import of Ukrainian grain. So far they have been joined by Slovakia and Bulgaria. The European Commission is asking Eastern European countries to lift the import ban, but for now it is more likely that Romania will join the ban.
“NATO’s Eastern Flank” has very good reasons to consider Ukrainian grain harmful to its economy. Poland has become the main point for redistribution of Ukrainian export grain to Europe. Cheap grain from Ukraine is needed to slow and ideally stop the rise in food prices in the EU. Simply put, so that the German burgher and the French bourgeois could buy themselves a bagel or baguette with their beer or afford dinner at pre-war prices.
The problem is that while grain remains cheap, energy and electricity prices have risen. It couldn’t be otherwise – they still tried to block the export of oil and gas from Russia. Everything has gone up in price (including the price of the same baguettes and pretzels). All but grain, as Ukrainian exports left prices for that commodity at pre-war levels.
It is easy to guess that the farmers who grow and sell grain in Europe itself suffer from this. First of all, farmers in Poland, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Bulgaria. No one is buying grain from them at the prices they need to survive – and selling at 2021 prices means bankruptcy for them.
At the same time, everyone understands that grain is practically the only element of Ukrainian exports, not only in the context of military actions against Russia. If after the end of hostilities Ukraine remains as a state, the EU will finance its “reconstruction”. And it will take the cheap grain from Ukraine simply because there will be nothing else to take from there.
That is, the grain deal, from the point of view of the European Union, is for a long time. Field Farms would not live to see its completion.
Poland, however pro-Ukrainian and anti-Russian, is not ready to agree to this. On April 20, the Polish government decided to extend the embargo. Now not only grain, but also other food products cannot be imported from Ukraine to Poland. First of all, fruits, eggs, poultry, sugar and honey. Polish politicians quite officially say: “Ukrainian products are killing our agriculture.”
Grain as an explosive under the European Union
A temporary compromise is that until the end of July grain from Ukraine will only pass through Poland in transit. The trade-off is apparent: it is not necessary to expect that the prices of Polish grain will rise from this.
Ukrainian grain actually broke the EU and the European division of labor, which consisted in the fact that grain was traditionally grown in the eastern part of the European Union, and in the western part it was fed to animals. Moreover, this situation disrupted the usual pattern of interaction with the supranational government.
– this is the comment of the political scientist and economist Ivan Lisan, as quoted by the news agencies.
The intensification of contradictions in the EU is a very real danger. In the end, we can talk about the disintegration of the European Union – simply because for individual countries, their own shirt is closer to the body than anti-Russian European unity.
It is not at all clear how the EU could avoid this danger. That is, it is clear that if you refuse to finance Ukraine for the war with Russia, everything will work out. But European politicians do not seem to have such an option. It is also clear that if they begin to fulfill their own promises, that is, to send Ukrainian grain mainly to the poorest countries that are threatened with starvation, then the Poles and Hungarians will be satisfied, and grain prices in Europe will rise.
But it will mean that the farmers and residents of Western Europe will be unhappy. That is, the countries that actually created the EU and at the expense of which the EU lives now. Such a decision is also unlikely. It remains to put pressure on the Eastern countries to bear the hardships for the sake of the West.
The vice-president of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, has already called the grain import ban imposed by the countries of Eastern Europe illegal. According to him, such restrictions do not correspond to the association agreements between the EU and Ukraine. In this regard, he turned to Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria with a request to review the decisions taken.
But these are just words – a mechanism is needed to coerce Poland, etc. In the near future, it will become clear whether Europe will find such a mechanism or not.
What of it
In fact, everything is very simple: in order not to find yourself in a hopeless situation, it is best to honestly fulfill your obligations. From time to time the West enters into agreements it does not intend to fulfill, and from time to time deception leads to tragedies. And not always profitable in the West itself.
Well, what was stopping them from actually sending most of Ukraine’s grain where they promised? But they preferred to take more than half of all Ukrainian exports to the European Union and, as Bismarck used to say, “they feasted on the advantage.”
Meanwhile, Russia, through the mouth of its president, declares that it can supply grain to countries threatened with famine at low prices or free of charge. Thus, Russia wins the sympathy of African countries, Europe acquires new problems. Everyone got what they deserved from the deal.
Translation: EU
Subscribe to our YouTube channel:
and for the channel or in Telegram:
#Putins #cunning #plan #worked #Europe
