Slovakia, Poland seek farmer protection fund against Ukrainian agricultural products
Slovakia and other European Union countries neighboring Ukraine will demand the creation of a special fund to protect their farmers who have suffered as a result of imports of agri-food products from Ukraine, Slovak Agriculture Minister Richard Takacs said in a comment to TASR in Brussels on Monday.
The minister noted that the current situation differs from the promises made by the European Commission several months ago. According to him, the European Commission indicated an additional 25% increase in quotas for agricultural products from Ukraine. Now the ministers have learned that for honey and sugar this will be an increase in quotas by 400-500%. This means that many more goods will enter the EU single market without customs protection.
"One issue is quantity, another is the quality of goods and safety, since European farmers must adhere to strict standards for spraying, fertilizers and various rules, which Ukrainian farmers do not do," he explained.
Takacs noted that EU countries, in particular Ukraine's neighbors, have raised this issue with the European Commission. A few months ago, Ukraine's neighbors adopted a joint agreement outlining the problems arising from Ukrainian agricultural products, and the European Commission should have resolved them. However, a number of countries, mainly from Western Europe, are satisfied with cooperation with the Ukrainian agricultural sector and want to receive these goods. They do not feel pressure from Ukrainian imports, which mainly go to Ukraine's neighboring countries. It is more profitable for Ukrainian exporters to place their goods on the EU single market directly across the border, without the need for expensive transportation to Western Europe, the Slovak minister added.
Takacs recalled that Slovakia cannot count on a "one hundred percent victory" in this case, but supports efforts to best resolve the situation.
"With the new financial structure and the new common agricultural policy, I see the possibility of creating a kind of fund that would be directly intended for countries bordering Ukraine. From this fund, our farmers and food producers could compensate for possible losses and deficits," he explained.
Takacs assured that Slovakia would put appropriate pressure on the European Commission not only through its ministry, but also through the prime minister.
According to him, all countries bordering Ukraine should act together on the issue of increasing quotas for regional agricultural products and creating a new fund, which Takač also agreed with his Polish counterpart on Monday. They believe that in the event of problems for food producers and farmers in these countries, a mechanism for compensating for losses should be introduced.
Takacs also reported that increasing quotas for the export of Ukrainian agricultural products will also be one of the topics of negotiations at a joint meeting of the governments of Slovakia and Ukraine.
The State Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Republic of Poland, Stefan Krajewski, confirmed before the start of the meeting of the European Union Agriculture Ministers (AGRIFISH) in Brussels on Tuesday that negotiations were underway between a number of European states bordering Ukraine, focusing on trade relations.
"We also discussed trade relations, for example, with Ukraine. We fully support Ukraine, but we also need to take care of our farmers, our processors and our entrepreneurs. Of course, these voices were most often heard from neighboring countries," he said, adding that many EU member states were showing understanding of this problem.
