Poland and Romania block Ukrainian products: is there a way out of the crisis?
11 October 2024 11:51
ANALYSIS
This week, an important meeting between European and Ukrainian agri-food organisations took place in Brussels. The main issue on the agenda was the blocking of Ukrainian agricultural products by Poland and Romania. During the talks, it became clear that agriculture will be one of the key obstacles to Ukraine’s European integration. Leonid Kozachenko, President of the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation, told this in an exclusive commentary to "Komersant Ukrainian"
Kozachenko noted that the EU’s agricultural sector cannot compete with Ukraine’s and needs significant reforms.
“It was a very difficult meeting, where we once again became convinced that agriculture will be the main problematic issue in all our negotiations on European integration. Their agricultural sector is absolutely not competitive compared to Ukraine. They are several decades behind us,” he stressed.
The President of the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation also drew attention to the huge subsidies received by the EU agricultural sector, but this does not make their system more efficient.
“The fact that almost half of the EU budget is spent on subsidies does not mean that we need to listen to them and learn from them. There are certain issues related to quality control that we should adopt and improve our control system. And of course, there are issues of controlling production in general, but as for the approach to agricultural production, how a farmer should treat it, this needs to be radically changed in Europe,” he said.
Poland and Romania against Ukrainian agricultural products
One of the biggest obstacles for Ukrainian producers is the position of Poland, which not only blocks Ukrainian agricultural products, but also openly declares its unwillingness to allow them to enter the European market.
“Poland is openly saying that we could not block Ukraine. We ask the question: we are not bringing you products, you have introduced sealing of all agricultural cargo that passes through Poland, so that no grain falls on your territory. You control this, so what are you afraid of? And they are already saying that they do not want us to sell on the European market, because we are supposed to change this market and prices will fall, and they will buy Ukrainian rather than European,” Kozachenko explains.
According to him, Poland is now pushing for more subsidies for its agricultural sector because it cannot compete with Ukraine, but Brussels refuses to provide more funding, citing the responsibility of the Polish government.
“And the Poles decided that the best option was to keep Ukrainian products out of their market and the EU market in general. By the way, I don’t understand why they don’t block Brazil, which supplies sugar to the Poles There are no restrictions. And Brazil supplies much more than Ukraine. Similarly, Brazil supplies chicken meat, and there are no restrictions,” the expert said.
Romania followed the example of Poland, trying to protect its producers. At the same time, the country’s agricultural enterprises remain stronger than Poland’s.
Is there a way out of the crisis?
The situation is complicated by the constant attempts of European countries to protect their markets from more competitive Ukrainian products.
“The situation is quite complicated, and I think there may be other manifestations of protests,” Kozachenko said.
The Europeans even express their intention to return to the pre-war quotas, which creates unfair conditions for Ukrainian farmers.
“The Europeans want to return to the unfair quotas that existed before the war.
Unfortunately, we cannot do anything radical,” the expert said.
Kozachenko reminded that Romania planned to work with Ukraine in the agricultural sector.
“They are not abandoning it. Everyone just wants to protect their domestic producers. We are too strong compared to them,” Kozachenko concluded.
