Romanian ruling party seeks ban on Ukrainian grain imports

Romania’s ruling Social Democrat Party (PSD) has said it will ask the coalition government to approve an emergency decree enforcing a temporary ban on Ukrainian grain imports, mirroring similar moves by countries in central and eastern Europe.

Poland, Hungary and Slovakia have already enforced import bans of food and grain from Ukraine. Warsaw, despite being a staunch political ally of Kyiv, has gone one step further by also stopping transit.

Ukraine is holding a second day of talks with Polish counterparts to unblock exports of food and grain through Poland.

One of the world’s largest grain exporters, Ukraine had its Black Sea ports blocked by Russia’s invasion more than a year ago and has been forced to find alternative shipping routes through Poland and Romania.

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Logistical bottlenecks and shorter transport distances have made millions of tonnes of Ukrainian grain remain in central European states, hurting prices and sales of local farmers.

The European Union has criticised the moves to ban imports, saying “unilateral actions” were unacceptable and a potential breach of the union’s trade policy.

PSD will ask the governing coalition to make a political decision to enable a temporary decree, the party said in a statement.

The measure is needed to protect Romanian farmers as the compensation provided by the European Commission “cannot cover the overall damage they sustained”, PSD said.

[ Putin and Zelenskiy visit troops near frontline of Ukraine war ]

“At the same time, Romania must continue to support Ukraine by facilitating the transit of farm products to other European Union states or to Black Sea commercial routes.”

Romanian agriculture minister Petre Daea – a PSD member – is due to hold talks with his Ukrainian counterpart on Wednesday.

Romania’s flagship Black Sea port of Constanta shipped some 12 million tonnes of Ukrainian grains in 2022 and the first quarter of this year.

Access to three Ukrainian Black Sea ports was cleared last year under a deal between Moscow and Kyiv but that deal is set to expire on May 18th and Russian demands have left the prospect of an extension uncertain.