The prime ministers of Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia are concerned about the effects of the free land transit routes to Baltic Sea ports in Lithuania and Poland and the Black Sea ports in Bulgaria and Romania. These EU corridors caused Ukrainian grain exports to rise significantly last year.
Moreover, most import tariffs have been suspended. Many Ukrainian agricultural products now enter primarily these five countries with EU support, where their farmers suffer income losses as a result.
The issue has long been a topic of discussion between the Central European countries and the European Union. The agriculture ministers of these EU countries have unsuccessfully urged restrictions on overly pro-Ukrainian measures. The EU wants to allocate only a few tens of millions of euros in emergency aid for a limited number of affected farmers, but not for all sectors in all EU countries.
With the letter from the five prime ministers to the Commission President, the issue is being elevated to a higher diplomatic and political level. They now suggest that reintroducing tariffs on Ukrainian grain exports could be a solution. EU commissioners have previously stated that they do not want to withdraw this ‘solidarity measure.’
The issue is especially sensitive in Poland, where parliamentary elections will be held later this year. Many farmers and rural residents accuse the Polish PiS government of insufficiently defending farmers and of adhering too strictly to EU rules. The Polish governing coalition points out that it has indeed secured substantial EU subsidies.