Poland has the legal tools to unilaterally ban grain imports from Ukraine if the European Union does not extend existing restrictions, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Thursday
WARSAW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th July, 2023) Poland has the legal tools to unilaterally ban grain imports from Ukraine if the European Union does not extend existing restrictions, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Thursday.
On Wednesday, Morawiecki said Poland would unilaterally ban grain imports from Ukraine if the European Commission did not extend the restrictions after September 15.
"There are certain legal means that will allow us to extend the import ban if there is no corresponding European regulation. We are giving an immediate and direct signal. Our policy here must be firm, because in the spring we saw the destabilization of the agricultural market in Poland due to uncontrolled imports of grain products from Ukraine," the Polish prime minister told journalists after a meeting with his Czech counterpart Petr Fiala at the end of Polish-Czech intergovernmental consultations.
At the same time, he confirmed his intention to independently ban imports of Ukrainian grain if the European Commission does not extend its ban.
"We have created a coalition of five countries that convinced the European Commission. The import ban is valid until September 15. I say it now, Poland will very firmly defend its interests and we will not agree to import grain, and if there is no appropriate European regulation, we will apply regulation on our part, which we have the right to do, based on security interests," Morawiecki said.
In March 2022, the European Union launched green corridors to facilitate the transit of Ukrainian grain to the world's markets amid Russia's military operation. In June 2022, Ukraine was granted a temporary duty-free trade arrangement with the bloc. However, the cheap grain from Ukraine ended up flooding EU markets instead, sparking outrage among local farmers.
On May 2, the European Commission banned the sale of Ukrainian wheat, maize, rapeseed, and sunflower seed in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia until June 5 in a bid to "ease logistical bottlenecks," but allowed their circulation in other European markets. The ban was later extended until September 15.
