The European Commission refused to return duties on Ukrainian grain despite the requests of Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary

The European Commission has refused to reintroduce import duties on Ukrainian grain, as requested by Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary.

This was stated by the Minister of Agriculture, Czesław Siekierski, in an interview with Business Insider. 

Czesław Siekerski claims that opening the European market for agricultural products from Ukraine could "completely destabilise" both the Polish and European markets in the future.

"The problem of the negative effects of imports from Ukraine is increasingly being noticed by Western European countries and concerns a wider range of products than just grain, in particular: France, Austria, and Germany are talking about threats to their markets for grain, poultry, soft fruit, and sugar. These countries say that tariff quotas, which are currently suspended under EU rules, need to be reinstated. Poland supports these demands. We have asked the European Commission to reinstate tariff quotas for some sensitive products, but the EC rejected this," he said. 

The minister also proposed other ideas to protect the Polish market, including licensing products entering Poland and creating Polish-Ukrainian technical groups to normalise trade relations. The Ukrainian side proposed the product licensing model, and the Polish side believes that such a solution, "with appropriate support from the European Commission", could be acceptable.

At the same time, Czesław Siekerski wants the European Commission's resolution on extending duty-free trade with Ukraine until June 2025 to include a provision allowing for "regional safeguard measures".

Svidomi has already explained why Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria introduced grain embargoes.