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Agriculture ministers from 12 EU nations have raised “critical considerations” over a latest compromise reached by Brussels and 5 Jap members of the bloc to limit imports of Ukrainian agricultural merchandise.
In late April, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria banned grain imports from the war-struck nation. The European Fee responded with a proposal to ship €100 million in assist for farmers in these nations, in addition to a short lived ban on Ukrainian imports to them except for transit to different nations.
No sooner had the deal been struck than it began to unravel. Poland led calls to distribute the glut of grain within the type of humanitarian assist — however officers responded that it wasn’t fit to be eaten.
In a strongly worded letter despatched to the European Fee and seen by POLITICO’s Brussels Playbook, the 12 agriculture ministers mentioned the deal “undermines the integrity of the EU inside market.”
Ministers from France, Germany, the Netherlands, Eire, Greece, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Luxembourg, Estonia, Denmark and Slovenia known as for pressing “clarification” of the association, which they mentioned the Fee made “with out consulting member states.”
Their considerations deal with how the deal pertains to the “guidelines and operation” of the EU’s inside market and the EU’s obligations towards Ukraine and Kyiv’s affiliation settlement with the bloc. The letter requires additional dialogue with nations to clarify how and why the €100 million was granted.
“As in all dimensions of our help, it’s crucial to make sure that the European Union is united and that our variations don’t play into Russia’s palms, particularly on this specific subject, the place Russia is threatening to not prolong the Black Sea Grain Initiative,” the ministers mentioned within the letter.
“We urge the Fee to return to a clear process alongside established guidelines throughout the functioning of the EU and its member states,” the letter added.
A number of EU agriculture ministers final month criticized the unilateral bans imposed by Poland and different nations on Ukrainian imports. Throughout a ministerial assembly in Luxembourg on April 25, Finland’s Antti Kurvinen mentioned the restrictions had been “inflicting hurt” to the bloc’s united efforts to assist Ukraine.
France’s Marc Fesneau known as out Poland and the others over double requirements in supporting the bloc’s jap neighbor when it got here to supplying weapons and imposing sanctions on Russia, however turning their backs when it got here to bearing a few of the brunt.
“You may’t name for solidarity and take unilateral selections on the identical time,” Fesneau mentioned.
This week’s letter is seen as one other sign that the remainder of the EU was turning into fed up.
“That is additionally clearly supposed to ship a sign to Poland and its band of brothers that the remainder of Europe has had sufficient of their double requirements in the case of solidarity with Ukraine. You may’t have your grain and eat it,” an EU diplomat wrote to POLITICO.
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