Ukraine has filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization because Poland, Hungary and Slovakia still refuse to allow Ukrainian grain into their markets. According to Ukraine, this violates trade agreements.
The conflict between Ukraine and many of its Eastern European neighbors has been going on for months. Ukraine was forced to export more grain by land through neighboring countries because Russia would not allow this through the Black Sea. These grains then also end up on the markets of countries that transit the grain, such as Poland. Because of the oversupply, prices fall and farmers suffer, say Ukraine’s neighbors.
Therefore, the European Union decided that countries could temporarily ban the sale of Ukrainian grains in their country. They had to keep transporting grain. This exception ended last week. Later, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia decided to continue banning Ukrainian grains.
Ukraine is angry about this. It then threatened to boycott agricultural products from those countries in response. It remains unclear whether this will happen, but with the move to the World Trade Organization, which acts as an international arbitrator in trade disputes, Ukraine is trying to increase the pressure.
Polish President Andrzej Duda noted in New York, where the UN General Assembly began, that Ukraine should show more gratitude to Poland: “It would be good for Ukraine to remember that we provide aid to the country and that we are a transit country for Poland.” Ukraine.
Guram Paul
Read also this analysis by reporter Arnot Le Clercq: Poland single-handedly blocks Ukrainian grain: At election time, the Polish farmer takes precedence over Kiev’s support
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