The European Commission will not extend a ban on Ukrainian grain imports that expires on Friday night, deciding at the last minute to let it lapse despite intense lobbying from eastern EU countries.
Imports of Ukrainian grain, including wheat and maize, were banned from the territory of five eastern EU countries – including Poland, Hungary and Romania — under an agreement reached with Brussels earlier this year. Only transit to other destinations was allowed. The measures were put in place to protect farmers in the five countries from an influx of cheap produce from their war-torn neighbor.
“The existing measures will expire today,” the EU executive said in a statement, adding that market distortions in the five member states bordering Ukraine have disappeared.
Ukraine will now have to take measures to ensure its grain exports do not distort the neighboring markets, the statement added. The Commission, meanwhile, will refrain from imposing restrictions as long as effective measures by Ukraine are in place and fully functioning.
The decision follows months of intense lobbying by EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski and by the government of his native Poland to keep the curbs in force until at least the end of the year — and to extend their scope to other products.
The Commission adopted the restrictions in May after Poland and Hungary closed their borders to Ukrainian imports to appease protesting farmers. The two bans violated EU law because only the commission has jurisdiction over the bloc’s trade.
Poland and Hungary have threatened to reimpose unilateral bans if the Commission let the restrictions expire on Friday.
