Romania okay with transit of Ukrainian grain but imports up for discussion

Romania does not question the transit of Ukrainian agricultural products to Romanian ports, the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, Mykola Solskyi, said after an online meeting with his Romanian colleague Petre Daea.

The parties agreed to discuss other issues of transit and import of Ukrainian agricultural products at a meeting in Bucharest on Friday, the minister added.

At the beginning of April, protest actions of local farmers started in Romania, dissatisfied with the decisions of the European Commission regarding the elimination of imbalances caused by the influx of grain from Ukraine.

Farmers also demanded the return of customs duties on Ukrainian grain, which were canceled last year.

Yesterday, the ruling Social Democratic Party of Romania demanded that the government join the embargo on grain and food imports from Ukraine. The appeal published on its website states that such a measure is necessary to protect local farmers.

At the same time, social democrats believe that Romania should continue to support Ukraine in the form of transit of agricultural products to other countries.

Poland and Hungary on April 15-16 and Slovakia on April 17 suspended the import of grain and other food products from Ukraine. Bulgaria joined the embargo on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the European Commission announced that it would allocate 100 million euros for farmers in EU countries to resolve the crisis with Ukrainian grain.

On the same day, Ukraine managed to unblock the transit of agricultural products through Poland. According to the Minister of Agricultural Policy, Mykola Solskyi, Poland will monitor the transit of Ukrainian agricultural products with the help of special trackers.