Romanian Prime Minister proposes to ban Ukrainian agricultural products for another 30 days

Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said he would ask the ministers of agriculture and economy to adopt a joint decree extending the ban on imports of Ukrainian agricultural products for 30 days. The Romanian prime minister’s statement was quoted by RFI.

Ciolacu noted that on Monday he expects Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal to submit proposals on grain export licensing, which he will discuss.

“As you have seen, the Commission has demanded to introduce a system of licensing grain exports to the EU. The Prime Minister of Ukraine also followed the same logic, saying that there would still be strict control,” Csolaku said.

He added that following the European Commission’s decision not to extend the ban on Ukrainian agricultural products, “not a single kilogram of wheat has been imported to Romania from Ukraine.”

“If there are any requests for exports to Romania, I will definitely ask the Minister of Agrarian Policy and the Minister of Economy to issue a joint order that the restriction will be extended for 30 days until everything is clarified. I repeat, there are no requests, and I want to assure farmers that the situation will not be the same as it was a year ago,” the Romanian prime minister added.

On Friday, the European Commission announced that it would not extend restrictions on imports of agricultural products from Ukraine after September 15, but Kyiv agreed to take measures to limit imports on its part.

Nevertheless, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia decided to impose unilateral restrictions, with Warsaw stating that their restrictions would be in effect indefinitely.

Tags: Ukraine, grain, Romania, restrictions