Agriculture commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski says the bloc will take acceptable measures in response to Kiev’s WTO criticism
European Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski has stated he was shocked by Ukraine’s resolution to file a criticism with the World Commerce Group (WTO) in opposition to Poland, Hungary and Slovakia. The three EU states broke ranks with Brussels by refusing to carry embargoes on the import of Ukrainian agricultural merchandise.
“I used to be fairly shocked that Ukraine selected this path, given the big efforts that the Member States have made up to now,” stated Wojciechowski, talking at a press convention in Brussels on Monday.
He stated that it might be “very simple” to indicate that Kiev had not suffered any injury to its grain export volumes, including that regardless of the embargo by the three EU states, Ukraine’s grain shipments have elevated.
Nonetheless, the commissioner burdened that he hopes the EU and Ukraine will be capable to resolve the difficulty “via dialogue and mutual settlement” and that he stays “optimistic” that such dialogue will happen. He additionally famous that Brussels doesn’t at the moment intend to introduce any sanctions in opposition to the nations which have retained import bans on Ukrainian grain.
Wojciechowski’s feedback come after Kiev introduced on Monday that it is going to be suing Poland, Hungary and Slovakia within the WTO over their unilateral grain bans, and in flip, will have a look at imposing retaliatory commerce restrictions.
The three nations selected to maintain their embargoes in place regardless of Brussels opting to carry restrictions on Ukrainian wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower shipments final week. Officers in Budapest, Warsaw and Bratislava have argued that low-cost Ukrainian agricultural merchandise undercut home costs and threaten the livelihoods of native farmers.
Kiev, nevertheless, has warned that it’s going to sue any EU nation that decides to ban its grain in contravention of selections made in Brussels. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has burdened that it’s “essential to ensure European unity works on a bilateral degree” and that “neighbors help Ukraine” within the battle with Russia.
