Ukraine Files Lawsuits Against Three European Countries For Extending The Grain Embargo

OFFICIALS in Kyiv have filed a lawsuit with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against three European states that refused to lift the ban on the import of Ukrainian grain.

As indicated in a statement published this Monday, September 18, on the website of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, the countries in question are Poland, Slovakia and Hungary.

Yulia Sviridenko, the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine emphasised that this issue was fundamental for the Kyiv authorities. ‘It is important for us to prove that individual member states cannot ban the import of Ukrainian goods. That is why we are filing lawsuits against them at the WTO’.

However, the deputy head of government expressed hope that the administrations in Warsaw, Bratislava and Budapest would reconsider their decision. Sviridenko made it clear that Kyiv would like to avoid ‘a long showdown in the courts’.

The Ukrainian politician noted that the Kyiv government needed solidarity with European countries and was simply interested in protecting the interests of its farmers, as reported by gazeta.ru.

On September 18, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia refused to participate in the European Commission’s attempts to rectify the current problems surrounding grain exports from Ukraine.

The import of cheap grain ‘destroys the local market in Poland’

Earlier today, speaking with NSN, the Polish political scientist Jakub Koreyba claimed that the import of cheap wheat from Ukraine only served to destroy prices on the domestic market of Poland.

He emphasised that Kyiv should focus on cooperation with Warsaw, instead of defending the interests of its oligarchs.

‘The Polish government and laws exist to protect Polish citizens, and not to protect the interests of several Ukrainian oligarchs who know how to lobby their interests very well’, Koreyba told the news outlet, while suggesting that the majority of agricultural holdings in Ukraine belong to the structures of local oligarchs.

He called on the authorities in Kyiv to choose a union with Poland, calling it a strategic decision important for joining the  EU.

‘No one in Poland will agree that Ukrainian wheat destroys prices on the Polish market. In Kyiv they are aware that Poland cannot have a different position’, Koreyba emphasised.

The news outlet added that earlier today, Arkady Zlochevsky, the head of the Russian Grain Union, said that Poland, Slovakia and Hungary cannot impose unilateral restrictions on the import of Ukrainian grain, but that the countries were also not ready to suffer losses.