Financial and health consequences of duty-free imports of grain from Ukraine
9.5.2023
Question for written answer E-001516/2023
to the Commission
Rule 138
Mathilde Androuët (ID)
In middle of April 2023, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria banned duty-free imports of Ukrainian grain, which are creating many problems for their farmers[1]. According to the Commission, these bans are ‘not acceptable’ and, on 28 April 2023, EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis welcomed the ‘political agreement’ allowing ‘the import of Ukrainian agricultural products’ to continue[2]. The agreement was reached in part because of the promise of additional financial aid from the agricultural reserve fund of the CAP[3], ‘despite the fact that the move is likely in breach of EU law’[4].
- 1.What assurances has the Commission obtained that this influx of low-cost grain will not just benefit retailers and importers?
- 2.Are tighter health checks going to be introduced, bearing in mind that the UN Environment Programme estimated in 2019 that almost a quarter of all plant protection products used in Ukraine were counterfeit[5], in April 2023 Slovakia seized 1 500 tonnes of wheat containing pesticides banned in the EU, and Hungary destroyed more than 29 tonnes of Ukrainian maize containing toxins and GMOs authorised in Ukraine[6]?
Submitted: 9.5.2023
- [1] ‘Following Poland's lead, Hungary also bans Ukrainian grain imports’, La Tribune, 16 April 2023.
- [2] ‘Europe: we will continue to import Ukrainian wheat’, Les Echos, 1 May 2023.
- [3] Common agricultural policy.
- [4] ‘Drop import bans if you want the money, Commission tells frontline EU countries’, Euractiv, 26 April 2023, https://www.euractiv.com/section/agriculture-food/news/drop-import-bans-if-you-want-the-money-commission-tells-frontline-eu-countries/?_ga=2.30054073.701768455.1684167930-1264391577.1684167929.
- [5] ‘Addressing Ukraine’s illegal pesticides’, GoodPlanet Mag, 27 February 2020, https://www.goodplanet.info/vdj/la-lutte-contre-les-pesticides-illegaux-en-ukraine/.
- [6] ‘Ukrainian grain creating problems for Eastern European farmers’, Le Point, 27 April 2023.
Last updated: 16 May 2023