Gergely Gulyás: Hungary proposes to extend the EU import ban on Ukrainian grain products

By: STA Date: 2023. 08. 24. 10:00

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Hungary proposes that the European Union extend the ban on the import of Ukrainian grain products, which expires on September 15, the minister in charge of the Prime Minister’s Office announced on Thursday in Budapest.

(Photo: kormany.hu)

Gergely Gulyás indicated: if they receive a negative answer, they will re-introduce the same national measures that Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, Romania and Slovakia applied before the EU ban.

The minister expressed his hope that a solution could be found at the European level, because “it is not European solidarity that only the agriculture of the countries bordering Ukraine is being destroyed”.

He reminded: after the sea transportation became impossible due to the war, Europe created a solidarity corridor for the import of Ukrainian grain. The result of this was that the 40,000-50,000 tons of grain and oil crops that arrived before the war reached 2.5 million tons in 2022, and increased to 250,000 tons per month in 2023. The problem with this is that the rules of the European Union did not force all the EU member states to show solidarity, but only the neighboring member states – he assessed. That is why Hungary, together with Bulgaria, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, decided to close its borders to Ukrainian grain. After that, during the negotiations with the European Union, the committee also recognized the legitimacy of this decision and allowed the central EU grain routes to be suspended until September 15, he recalled.

MTI