The European Commission announced that it will not extend a ban which expires Friday on Ukraine Grain exports to five neighboring EU countries - Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.
The Commission in a statement said it has concluded that "thanks to the work of the Coordination Platform and to the temporary measures introduced on May 2, 2023, the market distortions in the five member states bordering Ukraine have disappeared." "A constructive attitude of all participants in the platform helped to solve concrete problems and ensured that exports to third countries outside the EU are flowing and even increasing," it noted. The EU's executive body imposed restrictions in May that allowed the five EU countries to ban domestic sales of Ukrainian wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seeds. It was put in place to protect farmers in the five countries from an influx of cheap produce from Ukraine. The Commission, however, allowed the transit of the goods for export elsewhere through alternative land routes called Solidarity Lanes.
"Existing measures will expire today. Ukraine has agreed to introduce any legal measures (including, for example, an export licensing system) within 30 days to avoid grain surges," said the Commission statement.
The European Union has been acting resolutely and effectively to support the export of Ukrainian grains and other foodstuffs, notably though the Solidarity Lanes. The success of this work led to temporary distortions in the markets of the five Member States that share a border with Ukraine, leading on 2 May 2023 to the imposition of temporary restrictive measures on a series of Ukrainian foodstuff exports, it added.
Source: Kuwait News Agency