The European Commission has said in a statement that it has adopted extraordinary and temporary measures designed to curb the fallout from lifting the restrictions on the imports of Ukrainian agricultural products.
A statement said the measures concern only four agricultural products, wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seed. The measures, which entered into force on May 2 and will last until June 5, 2023, “aim to alleviate logistical bottlenecks concerning these products in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia,” the statement said. The products will be free to circulate in the EU during that period, except for the five states set down in the decision, the EC said. Those states will continue to allow the transit of the products, it said. Further, the EC is preparing an overall support package for the five member states hit hardest by the glut of Ukrainian products, including financial support for farmers and “further measures to facilitate the transit of Ukrainian grain exports”, the EC said. “The Commission is ready to re-impose preventive measures beyond the expiry of the current [measures] on 5 June 2023 as long as the exceptional situation continues,” the statement said. Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania turned to the EC in April, calling for steps against the harm to farmers from Ukrainian agricultural products, which have been exempted from customs as a support measure for the war-torn country. Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Poland had previously introduced unilateral bans on those products.