Romania remains the only import gateway for products from Ukraine

Petre Daea had a videoconference meeting with the Ukrainian minister. The Minister of Agriculture presented to his counterpart the particularly serious situation existing in Romania.

Daea told the Minister of Agriculture of Ukraine about the current context which is much more serious given the fact that 3 countries (Poland, Hungary and Slovakia) have taken unilateral measures to ban imports, to which Bulgaria has also been added with a ban on imports starting from April 24. Under these conditions, Romania remains the only import gateway for products from Ukraine.

“Romania has taken the step of intensifying customs checks of the quality of products imported from Ukraine, checks coordinated by ANSVSA, according to the European legislation in force. This measure was communicated to the Ukrainian minister. Also, the Ukrainian minister was informed that the Romanian state will implement additional security measures for the transport of products transiting the territory of Romania to third countries. Starting tomorrow (Thursday – no) a team of specialists made up of representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Finance and MADR will immediately proceed to implement the technical solutions for monitoring. I also asked the Ukrainian minister to use all the means at his disposal so that economic agents from Ukraine reduce the export of cereals and oilseeds to Romania, directing the export for the transit lanes, to the countries that need these products. . I informed that the ministers of agriculture from Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania made proposals to the vice-president of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis, the European commissioner responsible for trade policy at the EU level, and to the commissioner for agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, regarding trade rules,” said Pere Daea .

The Minister of Agriculture of Ukraine has requested a one-on-one meeting with Petre Daea, and this will take place on Friday, April 21, at 9:00 a.m., in Bucharest, in order to find other solutions that can be implemented in order to ensure transit in Romania and other problems specific to the current situation.

The Minister of Agriculture Petre Daea had a videoconference meeting during which he held talks with his counterparts from Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Slovakia in order to agree on the content of a letter that has already been submitted to the commissioner responsible for foreign trade and the commissioner on agriculture, with short, medium and long term measures necessary to protect farmers.

“At 5:00 p.m., the working session was started in videoconference format with Valdis Dombrovskis, European Commissioner responsible for trade policy at the EU level and Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski. (…) Romania specified the fact that it currently has the greatest exposure regarding the negative impact of imports from Ukraine, as the other neighboring states have taken unilateral measures to ban imports. Romania emphasized that it is threatened by an even greater influx of grain from Ukraine, as the exit points from the AU to the other states are closed. Romania remained the main transit corridor and Constanta Port is becoming even more congested. EC Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis bluntly stated that the unilateral measures taken by the 4 European states are illegal, they contravene the Accession Treaties and the Association Agreement concluded between the EU and Ukraine, calling on the 4 states to withdraw them, otherwise the Commission’s proposals will not be applied” , Minister Petre Daea also said.

The two commissioners presented a support package that the Commission is making available to the 5 countries consisting of 100 million from the EC’s crisis intervention, with this amount to be distributed in the next period and a package to regulate imports from Ukraine. It provides for the activation of exceptional safeguarding mechanisms, which means stopping imports until June 5 for the following products: wheat, corn, sunflower seeds and rapeseed. The commissioner mentioned that this measure can be taken within 48 hours after the states that have taken unilateral measures withdraw them.

The position of the ministers from Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania was requested. All states claimed that solutions are needed for supplementing the list of products benefiting from safeguard measures and rethinking the application period, by extending it.

“Since a consensus was not reached in this regard, the EC vice-president specified the fact that the issue of imports was raised at the level of the prime minister and president by signing the joint letter of the 4 prime ministers and the president of Bulgaria. Therefore, he requested that the member states agree, by the end of this week, by consulting the prime ministers and the president of Bulgaria”, said Petre Daea.