Hungary plans to introduce new restrictions on imports of products from Ukraine
Photo: Minister of Agriculture of Hungary Istvan Nagy (twitter.com/jan_mainka)
The Hungarian government plans to impose new restrictions on the import of Ukrainian agricultural products, announced Hungary's Minister of Agriculture, István Nagy.
According to him, such a step is aimed at protecting Hungarian farmers from market fluctuations caused by cheaper Ukrainian imports.
Nagy stated that the European Union's decision to allow duty-free imports from Ukraine has led to "severe oversupply and significantly low prices" in the European agricultural market.
In this regard, he accused the EU of being unable to protect European farmers who couldn't compete with cheaper imports and stated that Hungary will take additional protective measures "in its national competence."
"Brussels and the European Commission have betrayed Hungarian farmers and are supporting Ukrainian oligarchs instead," the Polish minister stated.
According to him, the government has adopted a five-point plan to assist farmers, including requiring sellers and logistics companies to report to the government on banned products imported through Ukraine, regardless of their country of origin.
Nagy added that processed products made from Ukrainian grain would also be subject to restrictions.
Import from Ukraine
On March 20, the European Parliament preliminarily extended the liberalization of trade with Ukraine until June 2025. This means that quotas and tariffs will not apply to our country.
However, the initiative included a safeguard mechanism, which includes emergency brakes for particularly sensitive agricultural products, namely poultry meat, eggs, sugar, oats, maize, cereals, and honey.
On March 27, EU ambassadors supported the respective decision.
And on April 8, key institutions of the European Union agreed to extend duty-free trade with Ukraine for another year. The decision includes an option for restrictions.
According to France, Poland, and Hungary, such measures are insufficient to satisfy European farmers. Therefore, they have proposed to strengthen the restrictions.
