WARSAW: Slovakia became the third European Union country to ban food imports from Ukraine on Monday, deepening the challenge for the bloc as it works to help Ukraine transport its grain to world markets.
Slovakia followed Poland and Hungary, both of which announced bans Saturday on Ukrainian food imports through June 30. They did so in response to rising anger from farmers who say that a glut of grain in their countries is causing them economic hardship.
The EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, manages trade on behalf of the 27 member countries and objects to them taking unilateral or uncoordinated measures.
At a briefing in Brussels, two spokespeople stressed gratitude to Poland and other Central European countries for supporting Ukraine, but said a solution must be found that respects the EU legal framework.
“We are dealing with a war, right? And this war has consequences, obviously, on farmers and more generally, the population in Ukraine and the European Union and its member states,” said Eric Mamer, chief spokesperson.
He acknowledged that Poland and other countries “have been doing their utmost in order to help Ukraine, adding: “So this is not about sanctioning. This is about finding solutions based on EU law in the interests at the same time of the Ukrainians and of the EU."
Five EU countries that neighbor Ukraine have asked the EU to treat the matter of Ukrainian food with urgency. Poland, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia argue that they can’t allow their own farmers to bear the cost of disruption that Ukrainian grain and other agriculture products are causing to their markets.
“The Hungarian government will always stand by Hungarian farmers and will protect Hungarian agriculture,” the agriculture minister, Istvan Nagy, said. He said the surge in Ukrainian products on European markets had made it “impossible” for Hungarian farmers to remain competitive.
Bulgaria is reportedly mulling a similar ban. Meanwhile, a delegation of Ukrainian officials visited Warsaw on Monday for government consultations on the issue.
Nagy also said that low production costs in Ukraine, owing to practices being used that are not permitted in EU countries, had allowed Ukraine to export large quantities of poultry, eggs and honey to the European market, driving costs down to unsustainable levels.
The Slovak Agriculture Ministry announced last week that tests of 1,500 tons of grain from Ukraine in one mill in Slovakia revealed it contained a pesticide banned in the EU. As a result, the Slovak authorities decided to test all Ukrainian grain in the country and temporarily banned its processing.
Ukraine and Russia are both major global suppliers of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other affordable food products that developing nations depend on. The war upended those supplies to Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia where people were already going hungry and helped push millions more people into poverty or food insecurity.
After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it became too dangerous for ships to sail in the Black Sea, disrupting the flow of large ships carrying food to distant markets. Shipments resumed under a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey.
The EU reacted to the crisis by lifting tariffs and other trade duties on Ukraine to help keep its economy afloat. That helped to divert Ukraine’s grain flows destined for Africa and the Middle East through Europe — but much of this food has instead remained in the bordering countries, creating a glut that has caused high losses for local farmers.
The EU measures expire in June, but the EU is expected to renew them.
Ukraine's EU neighbors are, with the exception of Hungary, allies of Ukraine who favor their neighbor’s future membership in the EU.
Yet already the EU’s decision to banish tariffs for Ukrainian goods as a result of Russia’s invasion of its neighbor underlines the challenges that would come with integrating a huge food producer with the rest of the bloc.
Their bans come as Russia threatens to pull out of the Black Sea deal. Moscow is complaining that a separate agreement to facilitate exports of Russian food and fertilizers amid Western sanctions hasn’t worked.
Global food commodity prices surged to record levels after the invasion of Ukraine and have been falling steadily since, but food is still expensive for people in many places because of factors like droughts, trade restrictions and the high cost of buying imported food priced in dollars as some emerging economies’ currencies weaken.
EU investigates after 3 countries ban Ukraine grain imports
https://arab.news/zqk6s
EU investigates after 3 countries ban Ukraine grain imports
- Bans deepens a challenge for the bloc as it works to help Ukraine transport its grain to world markets
- Move in response to rising anger from farmers who say that a glut of grain in their countries is causing them economic hardship
Russia and Ukraine trade attacks as US and European officials prepare for peace talks
Moscow pounded Ukrainian power infrastructure with drone and missile strikes on Saturday and Kyiv launched a deadly strike of its own on southwestern Russia, a day before talks involving senior European and US officials aimed at ending the war were set to resume.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian, US and European officials will hold a series of meetings in Berlin in the coming days, adding that he will personally meet with US President Donald Trump’s envoys.
“Most importantly, I will be meeting with envoys of President Trump, and there will also be meetings with our European partners, with many leaders, concerning the foundation of peace — a political agreement to end the war,” Zelensky said in an address to the nation late Saturday.
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner are traveling to Berlin for the talks, according to a White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
American officials have tried for months to navigate the demands of each side as Trump presses for a swift end to Russia’s war and grows increasingly exasperated by delays. The search for possible compromises has run into major obstacles, including which combatant will get control of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, which is mostly occupied by Russian forces.
“The chance is considerable at this moment, and it matters for our every city, for our every Ukrainian community,” Zelensky said. “We are working to ensure that peace for Ukraine is dignified, and to secure a guarantee — a guarantee, above all — that Russia will not return to Ukraine for a third invasion.”
As diplomats push for peace, the war grinds on.
Russia attacked five Ukrainian regions overnight, targeting the country’s energy and port infrastructure. Zelensky said the attacks involved more than 450 drones and 30 missiles. And with temperatures hovering around freezing, Ukraine’s interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, said more than a million people were without electricity.
An attack on Odesa caused grain silos to catch fire at the coastal city’s port, Ukrainian deputy prime minister and reconstruction minister Oleksiy Kuleba said. Two people were wounded in attacks on the wider Odesa region, according to regional head Oleh Kiper.
Kyiv and its allies say Russia is trying to cripple the Ukrainian power grid and deny civilians access to heat, light and running water for a fourth consecutive winter, in what Ukrainian officials call “weaponizing” the cold.
The drone attack in Russia’s Saratov region damaged a residential building and killed two people, said the regional governor, Roman Busargin, who didn’t offer further details. Busragin said the attack also shattered windows at a kindergarten and clinic. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it shot down 41 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory overnight.
On the front lines, Ukrainian forces said Saturday that the northern part of Pokrovsk was under Ukrainian control, despite Russia’s claims this month that it had taken full control of the critical city. The Associated Press was not able to independently verify the claims.
The latest attacks came after Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov reaffirmed Friday that Moscow will give its blessing to a ceasefire only after Ukraine’s forces have withdrawn from parts of the Donetsk region that they still control.
Ukraine has consistently refused to cede the remaining part of the region to Russia.
Ushakov told the business daily Kommersant that Russian police and national guard troops would stay in parts of eastern Ukraine’s Donbas even if they become a demilitarized zone under a prospective peace plan — a demand likely to be rejected by Ukraine as US-led negotiations drag on.
Ushakov warned that a search for compromise could take a long time, noting that the US proposals that took into account Russian demands had been “worsened” by alterations proposed by Ukraine and its European allies.
“We don’t know what changes they are making, but clearly they aren’t for the better,” Ushakov said, adding: “We will strongly insist on our considerations.”
In other developments, about 480 people were evacuated Saturday from a train traveling between the Polish city of Przemysl and Kyiv after police received a call concerning a threat on the train, Karolina Kowalik, a spokesperson for the Przemysl police, told The Associated Press. Nobody was hurt and she didn’t elaborate on the threat.
Polish authorities are on high alert since multiple attempts to disrupt trains on the line linking Warsaw to the Ukrainian border, including the use of explosives in November, with Polish authorities saying they have evidence Russia was behind it.
