Ukraine sees as "categorically unacceptable" EC's plans to help CEE face grain glut

EU trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis announced that the European Commission (EC) has reached "a political agreement concerning Ukrainian agri-food imports in the EU" with the five neighbouring EU member states and Ukraine "on how we'll tackle the situation," Politico.eu reported.

But protests from Kyiv, which wants free access to Central and East European (CEE) markets unhindered, complicate a final decision. A final text of such measures is not available yet.

As previously announced, the EC will put forward emergency safeguard measures for wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seeds, Dombrovskis said [no calendar announced], adding that investigations into other products could follow. The EU will also support the countries with some EUR 100 mln.

Ukraine had already protested to key allies the European Union and Poland over restrictions on its grain supplies, seen as "categorically unacceptable," on April 28 – before the EC announced later in the day that a deal had been reached in principle to resolve the matter.

"There must be (unhindered) export for all Ukrainian goods," Ukraine's foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said on April 29 after the EC's statement, quoted by Reuters.

"There are full legal grounds for the immediate resumption of exports of Ukrainian agricultural goods to Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria, as well as the continuation of unhindered exports to other EU member states," the ministry said in an emailed statement.

(Photo source: Denys Kovtun/Dreamstime.com)