Bulgaria no longer supports extending the European ban on grain import from Ukraine, as the three parties supporting the government proposed the National Assembly to withdraw support of the ban, which will take effect on Friday.
The economic parliamentary committee voted in favour of the proposal, and the last step is the plenary vote.
Five months ago, the country, led by the caretaker government appointed by President Rumen Radev, became part of the coalition of Central and Eastern European countries that pushed Brussels to impose an embargo on Ukrainian grain imports. The reason was the protests of local grain producers, whose interests were affected by the sharp price drop.
However, the caretaker government totally neglected the interests of consumers and the fight against inflation, as well as the Bulgarian sunflower oil producers sector, which is at the forefront of the EU.
Shortly after the embargo was imposed, it turned out that Bulgaria traditionally imports 30% of the required sunflower seeds from Ukraine because it does not produce enough to meet its production needs.
The embargo hit the sector hard, collapsing profits at a record high in 2022. Many oil producers have warned that plant closures will follow.
“Recognising Bulgaria’s solidarity with Ukraine and to ensure global food security… Bulgaria does not support the continuation after September 15 of the ban on imports into Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia of wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds from Ukraine”, says the draft decision of the three parliamentary formations – the coalition We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria, former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov’s GERB party and the Turkish minority party DPS.
By proposing the draft, they relieved the government of the responsibility for making this decision, which greatly eased the task of Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov, who could have been put under intense pressure from the grain producers.
Until that moment, the Minister of Agriculture, Kiril Vatev had given signals that he intended to request an extension of the embargo on the import of sunflowers and not to support the ban on the import of Ukrainian wheat.
At the end of August, oil producers announced that Bulgarian grain producers offered sunflowers at a higher price than on international markets. Mills refused to buy because it would result in oil being produced at uncompetitive prices for global markets.
The grain producers justify that they keep at higher prices because the production of sunflower seeds has cost more due to the high prices of fertilisers and plant protection preparations. At the beginning of the year, Bulgarian grain producers also received extraordinary financial aid for €26 million from Brussels. They claim that this amount is symbolic and cannot cover the losses.
Because of the high prices, there are about 600,000 tons of sunflower seeds from the previous harvest in warehouses, with nearly 2 million tons expected from the new one.
In this situation, the producers who withhold their harvest lose, and the prices on the international markets do not rise, therefore, Bulgarian oil plants are about to be closed due to the lack of raw materials.
At its extraordinary meeting on Tuesday, the рarliamentary еconomic committee adopted the draft decision. Ten of the committee members voted “for”, four were “against”, and two abstained.
During the debate, the commission branch organisations declared against the decision, saying they were “shocked”. A member of the pro-Russian Vazrazhdane party noted that the interests of Bulgarian agriculture are being compromised in the name of geopolitical interests, and it is national treason.
Surprisingly, two Members of Parliament from We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria, Daniel Laurer and Iskren Mitev, also pointed out that the draft decision lacks an analysis of the effects and is not ready to support it.
(Krassen Nikolov | Euractiv.bg)
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