Monday

4th Dec 2023

EU plans €100m to farmers to ease Ukraine grain price worries

  • Grain imports from Ukraine have sharply increased in recent months due the blockage of Black Sea ports (Photo: EUobserver)
Listen to article

The EU Commission plans to limit Ukraine grain imports to neighbouring EU countries to transit and export purposes only, after Bulgaria on Wednesday (19 April) became the latest country to temporarily ban the import of Ukrainian grain to protect its domestic farmers.

The commission is also planning a €100m support package to farmers in all five neighbouring countries, on top of the €56m from the EU budget to help Poland, Bulgaria, and Romania agreed earlier, to help cope with increased Ukrainian imports.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

EU Commission vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis was scheduled to discuss the proposal with Ukraine, and with Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia that all urged the EU in a letter last month to act to protect their farmers from cheap Ukrainian grain imports.

The EU executive lifted tariffs for Ukrainian grain to help the war-torn country after the invasion by Russia in February 2022. However, the exports have created an overflow and pushed down prices in neighbouring countries.

"There is a problem of oversupply in these [neighbouring] countries. And there is a problem of getting the Ukrainian exports to other parts of the EU, and also into the rest of the world," another official said.

The measures on limiting Ukraine imports, which would include wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seeds, to transit and export only, will be in place until the end of June, with officials hoping to reduce stocks in the neighbouring countries.

These EU-level measures, the commission argues, would replace the unilateral measures adopted by the four central European member states.

The EU executive said earlier this week that the unilateral moves were "not possible" under EU trade rules, but the commission stopped short of launching probes against the central and eastern European countries.

Commission officials said there has been a "very steep increase" of exports from Ukraine to the neighbouring countries.

In recent months the situation has been exacerbated by the lack of Ukrainian exports through the Black Sea ports, which Russia has mostly blocked this year, despite a a UN-brokered agreement.

"Since the beginning of the year, [the Black Sea corridor] is not functioning and that's why in particularly in February, March and April we've seen surges in exports of grain via the solidarity lanes," an EU official told reporters on Wednesday.

The commission said the proposed measures could create "breathing space" to deal with the structural issues that the executive hopes will bring down logistical costs, making Ukrainian grain more attractive.

Logistical costs are about 40 percent of the total costs and but shouldn't be more than 10 percent, an EU official argued, adding that four million tonnes of Ukrainian grains needs to be exported before the new harvest comes in.

The EU set up the so-called solidarity lanes last year to expedite Ukrainian goods towards EU states, via rail, road and inland waterways.

The EU plans a €25m investment to install navigation equipment on the Danube so that night-time navigation could become possible, speeding up transportation.

In parallel, Polish and Ukrainian officials agreed on Tuesday that convoys of Ukrainian grain transiting Poland for export abroad will be sealed, guarded and monitored to ensure the produce stops flooding the Polish market.

The agreement came after two days of intensive talks following protests by Polish farmers.

Opinion

Poland and Hungary's ugly divorce over Ukraine

What started in 2015 as a 'friends-with-benefits' relationship between Viktor Orbán and Jarosław Kaczyński, for Hungary and Poland, is ending in disgust and enmity — which will not be overcome until both leaders leave.

Agenda

Visions of war and peace in Europe This WEEK

Russian president Vladimir Putin will cheer on a mini war-parade in Moscow on Tuesday, as German chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks of peace in Europe in Strasbourg.

Agenda

Ammunition to, and grain from Ukraine top This WEEK

During the week, the European Parliament special committee on foreign interference is set to adopt its proposals to fight foreign actors, particularly Russia and China, using information manipulation — which is likely to increase as the 2024 European elections approach.

Opinion

What's Slovakia's Fico up to over Ukraine?

It is high time for Slovak PM Robert Fico to realise that any display of compliance or even understanding towards Moscow constitutes a threat to what Fico calls the "national-state interest of Slovakia", writes the former prime minister of Slovakia.

Opinion

Belgium, France, Spain must halt their Kremlin gas deals

What remains baffling, to Ukrainians fighting for their country and environmental NGOs fighting to save the planet, is that terminals in Belgium and France continue to serve as transshipment points for Russian LNG cargoes destined for India and China.

Latest News

  1. EU-China summit and migration files in focus This WEEK
  2. COP28 debates climate finance amid inflated accounting 'mess'
  3. Why EU's €18m for Israel undermines peace
  4. Israel's EU ambassador: 'No clean way to do this operation'
  5. Brussels denies having no 'concern' on Spain's amnesty law
  6. Dubai's COP28 — a view from the ground
  7. Germany moves to criminalise NGO search-and-rescue missions
  8. Israel recalls ambassador to Spain in new diplomatic spat

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  3. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  4. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?
  5. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  6. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  3. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  4. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch
  6. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us