Since the war began last year, Eastern European countries have become Ukraine’s staunchest defenders. But attempts to help a neighbor by selling farm produce have created chaos in their own markets. Farmers have been protesting for weeks against the unprecedented influx of duty-free products from Ukraine under an agreement with the European Union. At the end of March, the governments of Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia sent a letter to the European Commission requesting that the supply of grain from Ukraine be restricted. In vain. On April 15, with farmers in the streets, Poland, Ukraine’s loyal ally, was forced to put limits on its solidarity and banned the import and transit of agricultural products from Ukraine until June 30. Hungary was not slow to follow suit. Two days later Slovakia followed suit and now, despite the European Union’s attempts to stop these unilateral measures, Bulgaria will do so.
The Bulgarian Minister of Agriculture Yavor Gechev’s statement that the country might consider a similar ban has been boosted by the BSP parliamentary group with the presentation of a bill to block imports of Ukrainian agricultural products for six months. , including wheat, sunflower, powdered milk and bee products. “We are obliged to protect the Bulgarian national interest, Bulgarian agriculture and production and the health of the population,” declared the head of the faction, Kornelia Ninova, presenting the bill. He has the support of Revival leader Kostadin Kostadinov.
The government coalition parties have not spoken, but Gechev is also tired of waiting for Brussels to take action on a matter denounced for a long time. “We have been waiting for a decision from the European Commission for six months now; this issue has been raised at the highest level. What should we do? Let Bulgarian farmers go bankrupt?” the minister asks. Gechev’s response points to a ban. When the farmers took to the streets, shortly before the April elections, the now minister joined them with enthusiasm. He even got on one of the tractors blocking traffic on the Danube bridge between Bulgaria and Romania.
Imports from Ukraine will be on the agenda of EU agriculture ministers on April 25, but the Commission has already made its position clear: Unilateral ban is “unacceptable” as EU is responsible for policy business of the members of the bloc. The voice of Brussels has only been heard in Prague. The Czech Republic has no intention of banning Ukrainian grain imports, according to Czech Agriculture Minister Zdenk Nekula. In his opinion, the bans introduced in recent days by Poland, Hungary and Slovakia violate the rules of the internal market of the EU and the World Trade Organization (WTO). “Unilateral bans by individual countries will not be a solution. We need to find an EU-wide consensus on the rules for the transit of agricultural products from Ukraine to European ports and ensure that production continues to go to non-EU countries that depend on Ukrainian production”, added the Czech minister.
To help Ukraine’s battered economy and avoid a global food crisis triggered by the blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, the EU removed tariffs on a number of Ukrainian goods, including various agricultural products, and established transit corridors through from Bulgaria, Poland and Romania to facilitate the supply of products to the Middle East and Africa. Under a UN-brokered deal, Russia now transports some of its goods across the Black Sea, but most leaves Ukraine by road, rail or waterway. And there it stays. Train and truck shortages are slowing the pace of deliveries abroad and have literally flooded Eastern European agricultural markets. For local farmers, competing against duty-free and cheaper grain spells ruin and has led to parallel trade.
According to the Hungarian Minister of Agriculture, Istvan Nagy, “Ukrainian agricultural producers use methods that are prohibited in the European Union. This allows them to avoid unnecessary costs and export to the European market large quantities of poultry meat, eggs and honey, as well as grains and oil crops. The result is that Central European farmers are deprived of the opportunity to sell their own produce because we have become silos.” Slovakia reported last week that it discovered a pesticide banned in the EU in a shipment of 1,500 tons of Ukrainian grain.
At the beginning of April, the affected countries asked Brussels to buy back the accumulated Ukrainian products for “humanitarian” reasons and ensured that the transit routes worked.
The European Commission reacted as usual. He announced that 56.3 million euros from the EU crisis reserve would be made available to Poland, Bulgaria and Romania so that the governments could distribute this money among the farmers most affected by the entry of Ukrainian grain. According to this plan, 29.5 million euros will be allocated to Poland, where the first agricultural domino fell. Bulgaria has received 16, but has demanded 51 million more.
On Monday, already with the ban in three countries, the Commission announced that it was studying another aid package, which governments will be able to complete from the State budget. According to Brussels, the maximum possible aid amounts to 112.6 million euros.
But the aid is not enough and neither does it solve the political problems that accompany the strong distortion that exists in those markets. In Hungary and Bulgaria, opinion polls suggest that the majority of citizens want Russia to win the war in Ukraine, including the overwhelming majority of voters for former Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico.
It is estimated that the Bulgarian producers will lose between 800 and 900 million leva (between 400 and 450 million euros), according to Minister Gechev. And that when the Government of Rumen Radev struggles to contain a huge food inflation of up to 50%. The figures in the largest markets such as Poland skyrocket.
“We, Poland, have to be 100% sure that products arriving from Ukraine do not stay here. This is what we promised Polish farmers, and this is what we are doing. Since the resolution of ban, by 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, none of the listed products – grain and other foods, including fruits, vegetables and poultry – have entered Poland,” said Agriculture Minister Robert Telus, just two weeks into the post. His predecessor, Henryk Kowalczyk, was fired after massive protests by farmers.
President Andrzej Duda and if any European leader supports the Ukrainian cause it is he, agrees with the government’s decision, led by the Law and Justice (PiS) party, because “the interests of Polish farmers must come first.” In autumn there will be elections and the PIS depends on the votes of the farmers. Their niches are in the rural world and no government, not even the Polish one, is willing to pay in votes for the collateral damage of unlimited solidarity with kyiv.
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