EU reacts to Poland and Hungary's decision on grain from Ukraine

The European Commission has condemned Budapest and Warsaw's ban on imports of Ukrainian grain and food. This was reported by Reuters.

They said that such decisions should not be taken by the countries themselves.

We know about the announcement of Poland's and Hungary's ban on imports of grain and other agricultural products from Ukraine. In this context, it is important to stress that trade policy is the exclusive competence of the EU, and therefore unilateral action is unacceptable," the European Commission said in a statement.

The EC stressed that at this time, policies, including those related to import-export of products, should be decided within Europe, but countries should not act independently in such decisions.

On Saturday, 15 April, the Polish government banned the import of grain and other food products from Ukraine. On its part, the Ukrainian Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry expressed regret that its Polish colleagues decided to temporarily restrict the export of agricultural products from Ukraine to/from Poland (including in transit) and pointed out that it runs counter to the agreements.

Ukraine proposes to negotiate a new memorandum of understanding with the Polish side in the next few days.

It should be noted that in Budapest the ban on the import of Ukrainian grain was associated with the need to protect the local agricultural sector. Hungary did not give details of when its ban on imports of grain and other products from Ukraine would come into force, but noted that the measure would also be in effect until the end of June.