Poland would not hesitate to issue an order to block the import of Ukrainian grain if the European Commission refused to extend the grain embargo on Ukraine, according to Polish Development Minister Waldemar Buda.
Currently, the European Commission has given the green light to five EU member states who have placed a grain embargo on Ukraine, but Buda said during an interview with public radio PR 24 that he feared the EU commission was likely to end the embargo.
Nevertheless, the Polish government indicates it cannot allow Ukrainian grain imports at a time when Polish farmers have just completed their harvest and need to sell their produce. The grain embargo on Ukrainian products containing wheat, corn, rapeseed, and sunflower imposed by Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia was agreed by the European Commission at the beginning of May. It was to last until June but was extended by the EU commission until Sept. 15.
Yeah, grain is definitely a different matter, because food exports are a big part of the Ukrainian economy and this part was decimated by Putin. If they can’t export their grain now, then there’s no point helping Ukraine at all anymore. It’s one thing to impose reasonable limitations on grain imports, but a completely different thing to completely ban it. And it doesn’t matter how much volunteering you did personally. It’s like making one step forward and then running a marathon backwards.
Yes, I can agree to some extent. I just want you to understand why this is not so obviously evil move of Poland. Grain export to Poland alone has not been a huge part of Ukrainian economy. To show the scale, when we compare year 2021 and 2022, the import of wheat is 168 times bigger and for corn its almost 300x. And in 2023 it was still growing. There were just no way for Polish farmers to sell their own crops
