France and Germany on Tuesday expressed their opposition to the possible extension of restrictions imposed in April by five EU member states, including Romania, on the import of Ukrainian grain, AFP and Agerpres reported.

In May, the European Commission allowed five countries neighboring Ukraine (Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria) to ban the sale of wheat, corn and sunflower oil from Ukraine on their territory, provided that the five countries do not prevent the transit of these products to other countries.

Designed to cushion the impact of a massive influx of Ukrainian agricultural products into local markets, these “temporary” restrictions were supposed to expire in mid-September, but the five eastern member states last week asked to extend them until the end of the year.

“If the Commission agrees to prepare rules for the extension of this ban, we will do the same,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki insisted.

The possibility of expanding these restrictions, which Kiev considered “unacceptable”, has already been criticized by several member states, given that half of them opposed since the spring that the five countries could introduce restrictions, condemning the distortions caused in the common market.

“The commission must now clearly say that this is impossible. These measures are limited in time, it is unacceptable that some member states are exempted from the existing treaties”, – emphasized the Minister of Agriculture of Germany Cem Özdemir before the meeting in Brussels with European colleagues.

Germany accuses Poland of making Ukrainian grain a political issue

“We stand in solidarity with Poland. We are ready to help her financially, we have an appropriate assistance mechanism for this. It is unacceptable to solve our electoral problems at the expense of Ukraine,” added the German official, alluding to the parliamentary elections that will be held in Poland at the end of this year.

Five member states neighboring Ukraine have already received aid in the amount of 156 million euros from the EU’s agricultural crisis reserve.

“We cannot have unilateral measures…only collectively we will face the problem of destabilizing the markets…it cannot be solved alone, because otherwise there will be a transfer of grain to other countries,” French Agriculture Minister Marc Fenault also assessed.

“The Commission should clarify the real situation in these countries,” said the Minister of Agriculture of Spain, Luis Planas.

Following Russia’s recent withdrawal from an international agreement that allowed the export of Ukrainian grain through Black Sea ports, the EU is now seeking to increase its logistics capabilities along land and river corridors to allow Ukrainian grain to be transported to Europe.

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