In doing so, the European Commission rejects an appeal from 13 EU countries, including the Netherlands, to not give in to the 'blackmail' of previous illegal border blockades by Polish and Romanian farmers.
The export ban hastily imposed last month expired today. At the recent EU Agriculture Council, Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski already said he did not want to immediately fully reopen the borders, but only after the upcoming harvest.
Using figures on imports and exports from 2021 and 2022, he tried last week to demonstrate that Ukrainian 'exports' to Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and Bulgaria increased 'disproportionately', and that there was a lot of merit to the complaints in those countries.
Brussels officials now say the extension will apply until mid-September, and will no longer cover seeds. The Ukrainian Minister of Agriculture and Food Mykola Solskyi previously hinted that Kyiv might file a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) if necessary.
Solskyi stated that his country is doing everything possible to ensure the transit through the neighboring countries runs as smoothly as possible. He pointed out that Russia still attempts in various ways to hinder Ukrainian exports via the Black Sea.