EU Commission may sue Poland, Hungary and Slovakia over Ukraine import ban
Photo: The European Commission may take three EU countries to court (freepik.com)
The European Commission may take Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia to court for banning imports from Ukraine, despite the entry into force of the updated EU agreement with Kyiv, Politico reports.
According to the agency's sources, the European Commission has refused to rule out legal action against three countries that maintain their unilateral bans on imports of Ukrainian goods.
Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia are openly ignoring efforts to reset trade relations after the revised trade agreement with Kyiv came into force. The bans on Ukrainian grain and other agricultural products violate EU single market rules, which prohibit national trade barriers.
This defiance underscores how politically tense EU trade relations with Ukraine have become.
"We see no justification for maintaining these national measures," says European Commission Deputy Spokesman Olof Gill.
In an email, Gill said the EU executive was stepping up its contacts with the governments of the three countries that are providing economic resistance to Ukraine.
Brussels has been reluctant to act since the bans were introduced in 2023, hoping that a revamped trade agreement would make them redundant. Officials familiar with the negotiations say politics also plays a role. Legal action against Poland could strain relations with Donald Tusk's pro-European government, while singling out Hungary and Slovakia would appear to be a double standard.
What Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary say
Poland's Ministry of Agriculture has said that the government's restrictions are not automatically lifted under the new agreement with the EU and remain in force.
Budapest will also maintain its protection at the national level. Hungarian Agriculture Minister István Nagy also accused Brussels of prioritizing Ukrainian interests.
His Slovak counterpart, Richard Takáč, called the new agreement's protective measures insufficient to protect local producers, suggesting that Bratislava would follow suit.
Renewed trade agreement between Ukraine and EU
On October 14, Ukraine and the European Union approved a decision to abolish some tariffs and increase quotas for Ukrainian agricultural exports to the EU.
The decision of the Association Committee on trade composition came into force 15 days later, on October 29. It was adopted after the Council of the European Union had approved the terms of a new trade agreement with Ukraine the day before.
The Council of the EU also approved a decision to reduce or abolish customs duties on many Ukrainian agri-food products. These include dairy products, fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, and meat products.
