BUDAPEST: Hungary has agreed with Romania, Slovakia and Bulgaria to bar Ukrainian grain imports to protect their markets if the European Union does not extend a ban that expires on Sept. 15, the Hungarian farm minister said on Wednesday.
However, Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov told the Bulgarian state news agency before the start of a cabinet meeting that waiving the ban on imports from Ukraine would be desirable as it would reduce prices of basic foods.
“Let us be clear — the resumption of imports from Ukraine will reduce the prices of basic foods, reduce inflation, which will help low-income people, and increase budget revenues from imports and exports,” Denkov was quoted as saying.
On Tuesday, a parliamentary committee adopted a draft decision for Bulgaria to lift the ban on Ukrainian imports of certain products after Sept. 15. The final decision is to be taken in the plenary session of parliament.
Slovakia’s government confirmed it would uphold the ban.
“The government is prepared, if the (European) Commission does not do so (extend the ban), to adopt a ban on imports at an extraordinary session, in the same mode as now,” Farm Minister Jozef Bires said.
“You have already seen from the announcements from Poland and Hungary that these countries will apply unilateral restrictions, and from this point of view we must do so too, because Slovakia would face increased transport (of grain) through Slovakia, and this grain could also stay in Slovakia.”
Romania’s farm ministry said it would make a decision after the Commission has its say. “What is certain is that if the ban is not extended, we have solutions to enforce that will protect our farmers,” it said in a statement.
Ukraine has become entirely dependent on alternative EU export routes, called Solidarity Lanes, for its grain exports since Russia in July abandoned a year-old deal that had allowed Ukrainian grains to be shipped safely via its Black Sea ports.
As a result, farmers in neighboring states — Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia — have faced increased competition and bottlenecks in their own markets.
Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine 18 months ago, has said it will only return to the UN-brokered Black Sea grain deal if its conditions for export of its own grain and fertilizers are met.
Istvan Nagy, Hungary’s agriculture minister, said in a Facebook post that its new national ban would apply to a wider range of Ukrainian products than current measures.
“We have agreed with my Romanian, Slovak and Bulgarian colleagues that if there is no decision on the extension of the existing moratorium by Brussels, then we will take national measures individually,” Nagy said in a video message.
The Commission announced “temporary preventive measures” in May that would ban such sales into Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia while allowing transit to non-EU markets, mainly in Africa. These measures are due to expire on Friday.
Hungary signals national ban on Ukrainian grain imports beyond Sept. 15
https://arab.news/wpxjr
Hungary signals national ban on Ukrainian grain imports beyond Sept. 15
- Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov said waiving the ban on imports from Ukraine would be desirable as it would reduce prices of basic foods
- Slovakia’s government confirmed it would uphold the ban
Trump, Zelensky speak before Ukraine-US talks in Geneva
- Zelensky wrote on social media that he had spoken with Trump
- “Our teams work intensively and I thanked them for all their work and for their active involvement in the negotiations and the efforts to end the war”
KYIV: US President Donald Trump spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky ahead of a fresh round of talks Thursday aimed at ending Russia’s invasion, both sides said on Wednesday.
A White House official gave AFP no further details about the call, which came a day before Ukrainian and US envoys were to meet, and ahead of new trilateral talks with Russia expected in early March.
But Zelensky wrote on social media that he had spoken with Trump, and that his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were on the call.
“Our teams work intensively and I thanked them for all their work and for their active involvement in the negotiations and the efforts to end the war,” he added.
According to Ukrainian presidential adviser Dmytro Lytvyn, the conversation “lasted about 30 minutes.”
Ukraine’s lead negotiator Rustem Umerov will meet Witkoff and Kushner in Geneva on Thursday, Kyiv announced.
Russian state news agency Tass later said that the Kremlin’s economic affairs envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, also plans to be in the city.
“Dmitriev plans to arrive in Geneva on Thursday to pursue negotiations with the Americans on economic issues,” it cited an unnamed source as saying.
The meetings are the latest round of negotiations spearheaded by Trump that so far have failed to make meaningful progress on ending Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.
Washington is pushing to bring an end to the war triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine four years ago, which has left hundreds of thousands dead and destroyed swathes of territory, particularly in eastern and southern Ukraine.
- Preparatory talks -
Zelensky said his call with Trump “discussed the issues that our representatives will address tomorrow in Geneva during the bilateral meeting, as well as preparations for the next meeting of the full negotiating teams in a trilateral format at the very beginning of March.”
“We expect this meeting to create an opportunity to move talks to the leaders’ level. President Trump supports this sequence of steps. This is the only way to resolve all the complex and sensitive issues and finally end the war,” he added.
The Ukrainian leader has already said that a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, should take place to resolve the most difficult issues in the talks.
The talks, based on an American plan unveiled at the end of last year, are deadlocked primarily on the fate of the Donbas, the industrial region in eastern Ukraine that has been the epicenter of the fighting.
Russia is pushing for full control of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, and has threatened to take it by force if Kyiv does not cave at the negotiating table.
But Ukraine has rejected the demand and signalled it would not sign a deal without security guarantees that deter Russia from invading again.
