"The EU is facing a very important moment. The increased inflow of Ukrainian products will for long remain an element of the market situation," Telus said, adding that proper legal and infrastructural tools were needed to cope with this situation.
Przemysław Piątkowski/PAP
The European Commission is open to dialogue regarding Ukrainian agri-food products and their transit, the EU commissioner for trade has stated after an online meeting with the Polish agriculture minister.
“Robert Telus, the Polish agriculture minister, and Valdis Dombrovskis spoke about the current and future steps of the European Commission and member countries designed to protect them against excessive imports of selected agricultural products from Ukraine,” the Agriculture Ministry wrote in a statement on Monday.
According to the ministry, Minister Telus spoke about the need to support Ukraine in its struggle against Russia’s aggression, but, at the same time, he pointed to the need to facilitate the transit of Ukrainian agri-food products from Ukraine through the territory of frontline EU member countries to other EU countries and third states.
Minister Telus was quoted as saying that so called “solidarity corridors” could not be limited only to procedures designed to simplify the entrance of Ukrainian goods to the EU. He also appealed for the EC’s support for the development of infrastructure serving the transit of these goods to other EU countries and third states.
“The EU is facing a very important moment. The increased inflow of Ukrainian products will for long remain an element of the market situation,” Telus said, adding that proper legal and infrastructural tools were needed to cope with this situation.
“We will have a non-stop problem if we lack such tools,” he added.
Telus had also informed the EU commissioner on the joint position of EU frontline countries which considered it necessary to prolong the ban on grain imports from Ukraine.
On April 28, the EC reached an agreement with Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia on restrictions on imports of Ukrainian agri-food products, and on May 2 it announced the adoption of a temporary ban regarding imports of wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds from Ukraine. Last month it prolonged the ban until September 15.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said in response to Kyiv’s criticism of a Polish decision to keep up the ban on grain imports that “Poland enables the transit of Ukrainian grain and helps its transport abroad, but will not allow destabilisation of its internal market.”