If necessary, Poland may unilaterally ban imports of Ukrainian grain after September 15

Polish Agriculture Minister Robert Telus said that Warsaw is ready to impose a unilateral ban on imports of Ukrainian grain after September 15 if the European Commission does not extend the restriction. He said this during a press conference on Tuesday, August 22.

The media reported that there is a split in the coalition of countries that ban imports of Ukrainian grain: some EU member states oppose Poland’s position on extending the ban after September 15. At the same time, Telus said, in this case, the Polish side will impose unilateral bans on imports of Ukrainian grain, despite the position of the bloc.

He plans to meet with his colleagues from Romania and Slovakia to reach a consensus on this issue. There is also an idea to create a coalition to coordinate joint actions on the issue of grain supplies from Ukraine.

The Polish government wants this issue to be resolved “amicably in the European Union so that there is no need to break down the door.”

“If it is necessary (…) to introduce unilateral bans, we will introduce them, because we are concerned about the interests of farmers (…), and there is no discussion on this topic,” Telus added.

Why the EU restricts the supply of Ukrainian grain

As a reminder, in the spring of 2023, Polish farmers began to protest against the import of Ukrainian grain. They claimed that “products from Ukraine allegedly caused a drop in grain prices.” After lengthy negotiations, Poland, and later a number of other EU member states, decided to suspend imports of certain Ukrainian food products on their own.

The European Commission initially criticized such unilateral actions, but later imposed a ban at the EU level.

Poland and Slovakia have already stated that they are in favor of extending the ban on Ukrainian grain imports until the end of the year. In response, Kyiv emphasized that Ukraine is categorically opposed to the EU extending the ban on agricultural products to Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania after September 15 and may take mirror measures.

Tags: grain, EU, Poland