By KYIV. Sept 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine expects the European Commission will make a reasoned decision to not extend the restrictions on Ukrainian agricultural products after September 15, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Ihor Zhovkva has said on Facebook on Thursday.
“Possible unilateral restrictions on the part of Poland would be a violation of the Association Agreement, a violation of free market terms and the basic principles of free trade of the WTO. We expect a balanced and reasoned decision by the European Commission not to extend restrictions on Ukrainian agricultural products after September 15. And once again we call on Poland to support this reasonable step,” he said.
At the same time, Zhovkva noted that “even in wartime, economic mutually beneficial cooperation between our two states continues.”
“More than 3 million Ukrainians live in Poland. And as President [of Poland Andrzej] Duda accurately said: they are not refugees, they are guests of Poland. Guests working legally and making a huge contribution to the Polish economy – from 0.5 to 2% of GDP growth was due to the tireless work of Ukrainians on the Polish market,” he said.
The deputy head of the Presidential Office also welcomed the decision of the Bulgarian Parliament to stop supporting the initiative to extend after September 15 the resolution of the European Commission banning the import of grain from Ukraine into the EU.
“This is a clear example of how a mature European democracy makes decisions based on facts, not emotions, and does not mix economy and politics,” he said.
