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On Tuesday, the European Parliament voted by a large majority to extend the duty-free import of Ukrainian agricultural products for another year, further complicating the situation for European farmers, Agriculture Minister István Nagy said in a statement.
The Minister pointed out that Brussels continues to support Ukraine with its pro-war policy and leaves European farmers on their own. “With this decision, the Brussels elite has once again proved that the interests of Ukraine are more important to them than the welfare of European farmers,” he said.
The European Parliament decided on Tuesday to extend the suspension of import duties and quotas on Ukrainian agricultural products until June 5, 2025.
In the case of poultry, eggs, and sugar, the decision has capped duty-free imports at the average of the last three years’ imports, thereby conserving the extraordinary increase in imports in recent years, the Minister noted. He added that an even bigger problem is that there is no limit at all for cereals and oilseeds. “If the import trends seen in the first three months of the year continue, Ukraine’s imports of maize and wheat into the EU will exceed the record levels of 2022 and 2023,” he warned.
According to Nagy, this will have unforeseeable consequences for European farmers:
European and Hungarian farmers will not be able to compete with the hundreds of thousands of hectares of Ukrainian farms owned by international oligarchs that produce under much less restrictive production conditions.”
Brussels is continuing to cause an agricultural crisis, funding war instead of supporting European farmers, he added.
He said that
the Hungarian government would maintain the import ban, which had been introduced under national jurisdiction, but Brussels should also take action.
“The fact that a majority of left-wing, socialist, liberal, green EPP MEPs voted in favor of the proposal clearly shows that Brussels needs to change. A new leadership must be elected on June 9 that does not put the interests of third countries before its own farmers and that can take real action to protect European farmers,” Minister Nagy stressed.
Via MTI, Featured image: Pixabay