Four EU countries ask to return pre-war quotas for agricultural products from Ukraine

Four European Union countries are asking to restore pre-war quotas for agricultural products from Ukraine.

The agriculture ministers of Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia have appealed to the European Commission on this issue, “European Pravda” reports.

In the letter, the ministers call for a return to pre-war quotas for agricultural products from Ukraine after the completion of autonomous trade measures.

Hungarian Agriculture Minister Istvan Nagy said that the four states “protect the interests of farmers and their livelihoods from Ukrainian agricultural products”.

Nagy noted that the EU regulation regulating imports from Ukraine expires this June.

“Therefore, the European Commission must find a long-term solution to overcome the market difficulties caused by Ukrainian agricultural products. In a joint letter, we called on the Commission to return to pre-war quotas, introduce safeguard measures for agricultural products and introduce automatic protection and individual quotas on a regional basis for bordering member states,” he said.

The ministers also asked Brussels to require compliance with EU sanitary and phytosanitary standards, animal welfare standards, public health and environmental protection for Ukrainian agricultural products.

“We wonder whether Brussels will take into account the interests of Eastern European farmers this time, or will betray them again, as it did in September 2023,” Nagy commented.

He added that Hungary will maintain restrictions on imports of Ukrainian agricultural products within its national competence as long as it is necessary to protect Hungarian farmers.

USM previously reported that Hungary is threatening to prevent Ukraine from joining the EU: it is allegedly risky for farmers.