The Slovak government has announced that it will suspend imports of Ukrainian grain, sme.sk reports, citing the national government press office.
A working group on the issue will meet later today. The Slovak Agriculture Ministry said that it had “exhausted all legal and jurisdictional options” to regulate Ukrainian imports while maintaining the “corridors of solidarity” for trade.
The agency said that large shipments of Ukrainian agricultural produce “end up in European warehouses which destabilises the market in EU member states”. Therefore, Slovak farmers “cannot compete with imports of cheap Ukrainian grain” and can face issues, including a potential bankruptcy.
“Tougher measures regulating Ukrainian imports should be introduced on the government level,” the ministry added.
On Sunday, the European Commission rejected the recent bans imposed by Poland and Hungary on Ukrainian grain imports, branding them unacceptable. It is not specified what actions Brussels can take to combat this dissent.
Poland previously halted all imports of Ukrainian grain and other agricultural produce. The chair of the country’s ruling party explained that protecting the interests of their own citizens is a duty of every state in the world. Hungary soon followed suit to announce a similar ban. The Hungarian agriculture minister said that the decision had been made “in the interest of Hungarian farmers”.
Earlier, Slovakia banned processing and sales of Ukrainian grain and flour made out of it in the country. The national agriculture ministry said that a pesticide banned in the EU had been found in a shipment of 1,500 tonnes of grain. Bratislava communicated its decision to the Ukrainian ambassador as well as Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Romania, and Bulgaria.
