Kyiv proposes temporary trade restrictions with EU in exchange for Russian grain import ban

Ukraine is ready to accept temporary trade restrictions with the EU provided the bloc imposes a ban on Russian grain imports, Ukrainian Trade Minister Taras Kachka told the Financial Times.

As Polish farmers protest against the EU having liberalised trade with Ukraine, Kyiv says it would agree to new curbs on Ukrainian agricultural imports if the EU bans Russian farm exports that are still reaching the bloc via Belarus and the Baltic countries.

“Maybe for a transitional period, this kind of (…) managed approach to trade flows between Ukraine and the EU is something that we all need,” Kachka said.

The Polish farmers’ latest protest — in which they demonstrated against the European Green Deal and the increased influx of Ukrainian agri-food production caused by the EU’s introduction of solidarity corridors in 2022 — was staged on Wednesday.

The farmers argue that Ukrainian food has caused massive disruption in the Polish market, leading to a significant drop in prices and demand for Polish domestic production. Poland is maintaining a unilateral ban on Ukrainian grain imports, but the protesters demand that it be extended to other product groups.

Some political groups in the Polish parliament share this demand, notably the opposition right-wing Konferderacja, which wants the embargo to include poultry, eggs, frozen soft fruit, spirits, honey, and apple juice.

“We (Poland) cannot destroy our economy for the sake of helping Ukraine,” the party insists on its website, arguing that most food in Ukraine is produced by huge agricultural holdings, which “have little to do with ordinary Ukrainians and the fate of the Ukrainian-Russian fights on the war front.”

“Kyiv needs to understand some facts,” Andrzej Danielak of the Polish Union of Poultry Breeders and Producers recently told Euractiv Poland. “The structure of farms in the European Union is completely different from that of Ukrainian farms, with the EU system historically based on relatively small family farms. Those farms are generally small compared to Ukrainian farms.”

“We discuss quite different costs,” he stressed, explaining that the small farms that prevail in the European Union produce relatively small amounts of food compared to Ukrainian farms.

“(Ukraine) cannot demand unlimited access to EU markets because this large-scale farming will destroy European agriculture,” Danielak added. “And there are many companies in Poland that are very eager to seize the opportunity to get rich quickly from this.”

Ukraine blames Russia

Kyiv, on the other hand, believes the source of the problem to be different. “For wheat, it is not Ukraine causing problems for Polish farmers, it is Russia,” Kachka told the FT.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk agreed with the Ukrainian minister on the need to ban agricultural imports from Russia and Belarus and said he would take action, although he noted EU-level restrictions would be more effective after Latvia recently imposed a nationwide ban on Russian imports.

“We need to find a solution that will effectively protect the Polish and European markets against unequal competition,” Tusk said.

Still, the Financial Times pointed out that an EU-wide ban on Russian grain imports may be difficult to achieve, with several member states fearing that such a move would destabilise global markets and aggravate economic and social crises in developing countries.

Ukraine believes the protests by Polish farmers are being provoked by Russia, an accusation echoed by EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis. Kachka blamed Moscow for an attack by Polish farmers on a train carrying Ukrainian grain last month. The train overturned, spilling its cargo.

Although some of the banners carried by Polish farmers during the protests were openly anti-Ukrainian or even pro-Putin, the farmers generally denied any connection with Russia or the Kremlin and insisted they had no interest in escalating tensions with Ukraine.

The mayor of Lviv, Andriy Sadovyi, called protesting farmers ‘anti-Russian provocateurs’ — an accusation that Danielak vehemently denied.

“I very much regret that the mayor of Lviv defines us farmers in such a way,” Danielak said. “We do not want to play politics, and the mayor is wrong. The imperial war is to blame for the current situation, and it is clear who caused it. However, this situation can shatter our good neighbourly relations.”

“As Poland, we were the first to extend our hand to all Ukrainians who needed help, and we continue to do so. I advise the mayor to weigh his words and not stir up these demons of conflict between Poland and Ukraine,” he added.

(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl)