PNL MEP Daniel Buda says the world can die of bullets, but it can also die of hunger if the cheap grain crisis, which is also affecting farmers in Romania, is not properly addressed. He stated that based on the information he has access to, the Romanian Ministry of Agriculture would not be effective enough to communicate during this crisis.

Asked by Prima News on Tuesday how he thought the grain crisis should be resolved, the Romanian MEP said that since last July he had sent a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in which he noted Pay attention to this situation, because getting here was a matter of time, given that Romania provided more than 60% of grain transit from Ukraine to other regions of the world.

Daniel Buda noted that a big problem at the moment is the lack of logistics infrastructure for transporting grain from Ukraine to other regions of the globe, where this grain is really needed, because there is a famine in North Africa, and although there is grain in Ukraine, we cannot to transport: “We need a certain amount of support from the European Commission, in addition to the money they have to provide to compensate the farmers in Romania, we also have to get support in the form of these means of transporting these grains.”

He says that the remaining grain from Ukraine in our country, due to the lack of vehicles, creates a lot of pressure on Romanian farmers, who are forced to sell their corn, wheat, and sunflower products below cost price, which definitely leads them to bankruptcy.

• “I drew the attention of the Commission on Agriculture that in this world you can die from bullets, but you can also die from hunger if we do not solve this grain problem properly. (…)
• We saw that in Austria, for example, 25 percent of the grain consumed there comes from Ukraine. Therefore, this problem is very big. Of course, we start from the premise that it should be very clear that we support Ukraine, and obviously these people are dying there, they are dying at the front, and there is no doubt that they need to be supported, but we also have to think about these things in such a way that, indeed, the agricultural sectors in the European Union and in this case in Romania, since they are the most affected, should not be affected,” said Daniel Buda, quoted by News.ro.

He also said that the Ministry of Agriculture did not communicate well enough in this grain crisis: “Unfortunately, and I am telling you this because I had access to certain information, or rather I did not have access to certain information, because it did not exist. we have not been able to communicate well enough with the Ministry of Agriculture. In the end, I say this with regret because I am Romanian and interested in supporting Romania as much as possible, but the dimension of this generalized phenomenon, constant communication with Romania, was not known. We are in this situation. I am saying that the situation is not completely out of control, so in my view, this week, in two weeks at the most, the European Commission will have to give some very clear answers on this matter.”

The PNL MEP was asked if he thought Romania should adopt the same position as Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria on the grain crisis.

“I believe that the path of dialogue is the one that solves this problem. The idea is as follows. Poland, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Slovakia and Hungary have said they will. At the moment, they have not done anything, and I perceive this case in the logic of the election campaign, which the Poles have, but at the same time, it is a well-deserved pressure, moreover, on the European Commission, related to this topic,” he added. Daniel Buda.

Daea: Everything should be legal, not because of the desire to have short-term electoral capital

Agriculture Minister Petre Daea said on Digi24 on Monday that the grain crisis in Ukraine must be sought through legal solutions, and that the decisions that will be made should not cause legal damage to the country through infringement measures that could be costly.

• “It’s not about making the clock run faster. It is important to leave the legal line and strive for a goal that can be achieved. The European Commission is already criticizing and saying that a unilateral position is unacceptable. Based on the logic of interest, we must look for possible legal solutions that will give us diplomatic and legislative success.
• Out of respect for the farmers, let’s consider that we can have the final say when the rules are in place and we must respect them, otherwise we enter a different logic and it may affect us more than it does now. Romanian farmers are not inferior to others, they are protected by clear measures and legal norms.
• Poland decided to take this decision out of respect for farmers, but we also have respect. We have to look at things in the overall context and make decisions that do not legally harm the country through actions of violation that may cost the country. Things should be in legal logic, and not because of the desire to have opportunistic electoral capital,” said the Minister of Agriculture.

When asked about specific measures that will benefit farmers so that there are no more problems with grain exports, Daea replied that this situation is regulated by the European Commission in dialogue with member countries: “If I were the commission and the country, I could give an answer about the term, but I don’t.’

Poland and Ukraine will resume negotiations on grain transit on Tuesday

Poland and Ukraine will resume talks on Tuesday to try to restore transit of food and grain, Poland’s agriculture minister told public radio station PR1, The Guardian reported.

After the Russian invasion, the European Union removed tariffs on grain from Ukraine to facilitate its transport to Africa and the Middle East. But this grain flooded the markets of Poland, Romania and other EU countries, which were supposed to be only transit routes.

We will remind, over the weekend Poland, Hungary and Slovakia banned the import of grain from Ukraine, and the European Commission qualified these unilateral trade measures as unacceptable.

The Minister of Agriculture of Ukraine, Mykola Solskyi, said that on Wednesday he will hold additional negotiations with Romania, and on Thursday – with Slovakia.

Ambassadors from EU member states are due to discuss the bans on Wednesday, according to a senior European official quoted by Reuters, who said low global prices and demand meant the grain was staying in the EU bloc instead of being sold.

The ban comes as an agreement that allows Ukraine to export millions of tons of grain from its Black Sea ports expires on May 18. Russia’s demands made the prospects for the continuation of the agreement uncertain.