Shmyhal offers Poland, Hungary and Slovakia a compromise on Ukrainian grain exports

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that Ukraine will file a lawsuit with the World Trade Organization against Poland, Hungary and Slovakia over unilateral restrictions on imports of Ukrainian agricultural products. At the same time, our Government is offering a compromise scenario to the EU and neighboring countries.

“We have already submitted to the European Commission an action plan to control the export of 4 groups of agricultural products from Ukraine. Such control will help prevent any market distortions in neighboring EU member states. In particular, we plan to adopt a resolution stipulating that goods exported to 5 neighboring countries will be subject to verification and approval by the Ukrainian Ministry of Economy,” Shmyhal said.

He noted that Ukraine has already filed a formal request to Poland, Hungary and Slovakia on violation of the World Trade Organization rules.

“We are also launching an anti-discrimination investigation against the unfriendly actions of these countries in the trade sphere based on 2023 statistics. If Poland and Hungary do not agree to the measures agreed with the European Commission and do not lift their unilateral bans on our goods, we will decide to ban the import of certain categories of goods from these countries to Ukraine,” the Prime Minister of Ukraine said.

Denys Shmyhal emphasized that Russia attacks Ukrainian ports every day, destroys infrastructure, elevators, attacks agricultural enterprises, and mines fields.

“Further blocking of our agricultural exports by neighboring countries will hit the Ukrainian economy, finances, tax revenues and jobs. Such a blockade will also play into the hands of Russia’s plan to create another global food crisis. We once again call on our neighbors to abandon harmful and unlawful restrictions, political populism and embark on a constructive dialogue that will actually benefit everyone,” Shmyhal wrote.

As a reminder, on Monday, Kyiv filed a lawsuit at the World Trade Organization against three European Union countries for their refusal to lift the ban on Ukrainian agricultural products.

Poland, Hungary and Slovakia have imposed unilateral bans to protect their national agricultural industries from a surge in cheap grain exports from Ukraine, ignoring the European Commission, which last Friday decided to allow the sale of Ukrainian grain to the EU.

At the same time, on September 19, for the first time since the grain deal broke down, a ship carrying Ukrainian wheat left a Black Sea port through a temporary corridor established by the Ukrainian military. This is the first of two ships that entered the port of Chornomorsk last week. In this way, Ukraine is testing its ability to unblock its seaports for grain exports.

Tags: Ukraine, EU, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, restrictions