Poland will not lift ban, open its borders to Ukrainian grain, says premier
15:56, 12/09/2023, Tuesday
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Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki
This April, Poland and Hungary closed borders unilaterally to ban grain, food imports from Ukraine
Poland will not lift the ban and open its borders to allow grain imports from Ukraine, the Polish prime minister said on Tuesday, according to local media.
In a video message shared on X, Mateusz Morawiecki announced that he will not allow Ukrainian grain to enter Poland, regardless of what the European Union might decide amid the ongoing war.
Morawiecki, with this step, is seeking to protect the Polish market.
This April, Poland and Hungary unilaterally closed their borders to grain and food imports from Ukraine.
In June, the European Commission announced that it would extend the ban on Ukrainian grain until Sept. 15, an arrangement allowing five of Ukraine’s EU neighbors – Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia – to ban domestic sales of some Ukrainian grains.
The "exceptional and temporary preventive measures" were adopted on May 2 on imports of wheat, maize, rapeseed, and sunflower seed from Ukraine under the exceptional safeguard of the Autonomous Trade Measures Regulation.