The EU has a “ethical obligation” to curb Russian grain imports, together with of probably stolen Ukrainian grain, 5 EU nations have mentioned.
“We name upon the European Fee to draft laws that may restrict the import of grain from Russia and Belarus to the EU,” mentioned the agriculture ministers of Poland, the Czech Republic, and the Baltic states in a letter to the EU government on Wednesday (20 March).
The EU imported 1.53m tonnes of Russian grain final 12 months, yielding €437.5m earnings for Russia, they mentioned.
And these income had been “being utilized by Russia to fund its ongoing warfare towards Ukraine”, they mentioned.
Russia has additionally occupied a few of Ukraine’s most fertile grain-producing land within the Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia areas.
“Additionally it is essential to implement measures geared toward stopping probably stolen grain from Ukraine from getting into the EU market,” the 5 EU ministers added.
The proposal comes as EU leaders put together to satisfy in Brussels on Thursday and Friday to debate Russian grain — amongst different points.
One possibility can be to incorporate a ban within the 14th spherical of Russia sanctions, which requires EU-27 unanimity.
However another choice can be for EU Fee to impose tariffs on Russian and Belarusian grains to make them unattractive to EU consumers.
The grain talks additionally come amid farmers’ protests throughout Europe, focusing on EU climate-change insurance policies, in addition to duty-free imports of Ukrainian meals.
Some 70,000 protesters blocked roads in 570 places in Poland on Wednesday, in accordance with Polish media.
EU nations and MEPs reached a deal the identical day on tariffs in emergency instances on duty-free imports of Ukrainian oats, eggs, poultry, and sugar (however not wheat or barley) in a bid to ease tensions.
5 EU states — Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia — additionally imposed momentary curbs on Ukrainian grain imports final 12 months. The Polish, Hungarian, and Slovak bans stay in place for now.
However for the EU-5 who signed Wednesday’s letter, it made extra sense to focus on Russia than Ukraine in future to assist European producers.
“The inflow of Russian imports exerts strain on the EU inside market and immediately competes with the manufacturing of EU farmers,” they mentioned.
And if contemporary sanctions on Russia meals imports had been to create any unexpected shortages, then “manufacturing provided by Ukrainian agricultural operators stays at our disposal,” they famous.
“Every now and then they [Ukrainians] really feel unhealthy that we speak a lot about them and their agriculture merchandise,” a senior EU diplomat mentioned.
“They felt actually badly about the truth that we discuss Ukrainian merchandise however nonetheless the Russian merchandise are getting into the European market, as was the case earlier than the warfare”, he added.
Trying past Europe, Russia additionally had a “technique of weaponising meals”, the EU-5 famous.
The technique concerned a naval blockade on Ukrainian grain exports to Africa, coupled with propaganda that Western sanctions had been accountable for rising meals costs and shortages.
However Ukraine broke the blockade final August, with Ukrainian international minister Dmytro Kuleba saying in Kyiv on Tuesday it anticipated to ship grain to 33 nations this winter.
“We resumed maritime exports with out searching for Russian permission and destroyed a big portion of their Black Sea [naval] fleet,” Kuleba mentioned.
“It’s paramount for the EU to … deal with supporting Ukraine in re-establishing its exports to nations reliant on them,” Wednesday’s letter mentioned.