Prime Ministers Of Several Eastern EU States Urge Bloc To Limit Ukrainian Grain Imports

Prime Ministers of Several Eastern EU States Urge Bloc to Limit Ukrainian Grain Imports

Prime ministers of Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia have published a joint open letter to President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen on Friday, calling for measures to counteract the negative effects of the increased Ukrainian grain imports

WARSAW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 31st March, 2023) Prime ministers of Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia have published a joint open letter to President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen on Friday, calling for measures to counteract the negative effects of the increased Ukrainian grain imports.

The prime ministers refer to "the substantial increase in the supply of Ukrainian products to the markets of the EU Member States, especially those bordering or close to Ukraine," saying that there has been "an unprecedented increase in grain, oil seeds, eggs, poultry, sugar, Apple juice, berries, apples, flour, honey and pasta imports."

"Difficulties have arisen in disposing of the surplus cereals in storage, thus destabilizing the cereals, industrial crops and oil seeds market," the letter reads.

The prime ministers call for additional sources of funding to tackle the grain problem.

"Given the scale of the above phenomena, it is necessary to significantly increase the amount of EU funds allocated to EU support measures. Additional resources are needed, because the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) and national budgets are insufficient" the letter reads.

These funds could also help export Ukrainian grain surpluses to African and middle eastern countries, thus accomplishing the original goal of the Solidarity Lane, the ministers said.

"Furthermore, we call upon the Commission to analyze the possibility of buying the surplus grain from neighboring member states for humanitarian purposes," they added.

Since early February, several Polish farmer organizations, including conservative political movement AGROunia, protested against the imported Ukrainian grain, primarily of poor quality, flooding the Polish market and damaging local production.