By KYIV. May 12 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Ministers of Agriculture of Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia again appealed to the European Commission regarding Ukrainian agricultural exports and asked to extend the ban on imports of wheat, maize, rapeseed, and sunflower seeds to these countries until the end of this year and expand it to contracts that were signed before May 2.
According to a joint letter available to pap.pl, the countries appreciate the agreement reached with the European Commission and the measures taken to mitigate the effects of increased imports of agri-food products from Ukraine. However, the decisions that came into force on May 2, 2023 may not be effective and insufficient.
According to the document, allowing the implementation of previously concluded agreements can lead to numerous cases of abuse, and the imposed ban will be illusory. The authors of the letter believe there is a serious risk that contracts without dates will be cleared by customs, and the customs authorities will not receive effective tools to check and challenge such documents.
The ministers urged the European Commission to quickly find a legally binding solution and amend the agreement.
They also demanded confirmation from the European Commission that with the entry into force of the new regulation on the extension of trade liberalization with Ukraine after June 5 for another year, the European Commission regulation, which will extend the preventive measures against four Ukrainian products until the end of 2023, will come into effect.
