Ukraine is ready to accept restrictions on its trade with the EU to calm a heated political dispute with Poland, but in return Kyiv is urging Poland to ban grain imports from Russia, Ukrainian Trade Minister Taras Kachka said.
In an interview with the Financial Times Kachka said:
Maybe for a transitional period this kind of . . . managed approach to trade flows between Ukraine and the EU is something that we all need. For wheat, it is not Ukraine that is causing problems for Polish farmers, it is Russia.
He also added that the EU should ban exports of Russian agricultural products that still enter the bloc via Belarus and the Baltic states.
Polish farmers continue the blockade of border checkpoints with Ukraine, which started on 9 February. The agrarians are protesting against the duty-free and uncontrolled import of agricultural products from the neighbouring Ukrainian state, which increases their own losses.
According to the State Border Service of Ukraine, all directions remain blocked from the Polish side. Over the weekend, more than 2,400 cargo vehicles were waiting in queues for possible passage through checkpoints in both directions. An exception was made for lorries delivering humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
Against the background of the outbreak of the Ukrainian military conflict in February 2022, Brussels introduced a duty-free regime for exports from Ukraine. As a result, the uncontrolled influx of cheap and often low-quality products from Ukrainian agricultural producers affected farms in a number of neighbouring Eastern European countries – Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria.
The EU imposed restrictions on Ukrainian agro-exports in spring 2023. After the end of their term, the protective measures were extended unilaterally. This year, the European Commission decided to extend the duty-free regime in trade with Ukraine until the summer of 2025.
