By banning imports of agricultural products, EU countries are following Russia, giving it dangerous hope – Zelenskyy

UkrAgroConsult

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes that the decision of a number of Eastern European countries that are members of the European Union to ban imports of Ukrainian agricultural products is “something similar” to Russia’s actions in its attempts to block the supply of agricultural products to the world market.

The Head of State said this in his evening video address, commenting on his telephone conversation with European Council President Charles Michel on Friday.

“We discussed the situation around the destructive, in my opinion, ban on the import of our agricultural products by certain states. I emphasize that this not only violates the existing Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU, but also gives the Kremlin a dangerous hope – the hope that in our common European home, someone’s wrong decisions can prevail over common interests,” he said.

According to Zelenskyy, now that Russia is violating freedom of trade and trying to block the supply of agricultural products to the world market, “it is definitely not the time for anyone to follow the evil state and do something similar.”

“We need to find a normal, European-style, constructive way out of this difficult situation. A solution that would take into account the interests of all our countries and Europe as a whole. We have discussed with Mr. Michel how this can be done, what kind of solution it can be, and we are in constant contact with all partners,” the President noted.

Earlier on Friday, European Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis announced that the European Commission had reached an agreement in principle with Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia on the export of Ukrainian agricultural products following negotiations.

It was decided to ban imports of Ukrainian wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds (but not sunflower oil, as announced by the Polish side) to the EU if these countries cancel their own unilateral measures. In addition, a support package of 100 million euros will be allocated for affected European farmers.

At the same time, Zelenskyy believes that continuing duty-free exports of Ukrainian agricultural products to these countries would be the best way out, stating that they “have significant competitive advantages from increasing Ukrainian exports, and their population gets access to cheap and high-quality Ukrainian products.”

Tags: Ukraine, EU, restrictions