Agricultural Products Banned, Ukraine Plans To Sue Poland, Hungary And Slovakia

Illustration of wheat. (Wikimedia Commons/Come on

JAKARTA - Ukraine plans to sue Poland, Hungary and Slovakia over its ban on agricultural products, Agriculture Minister Mykola Solsky said on Monday.

"I think (it will) be happening in the near future," he told Reuters.

Earlier, Politico on Monday quoted Ukrainian Trade Representative Taras Kachka as saying in a Kyiv interview, planning to sue the three countries.

The restrictions imposed by the European Union in May allowed Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia to ban domestic sales of wheat, corn, cabbage seeds and sunflower seeds from Ukraine, while allowing the cargo transit to be exported elsewhere.

Most recently, Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary announced their own restrictions on imports of Ukrainian grains on Friday, after the European Executive Commission decided not to extend the import ban in the five EU members on Friday.

Warsaw, Bratislava and Budapest said they were acting in the interests of the economy and were meant to protect farmers from the abundance of products.

"It is important to prove that this action is legally wrong. And that's why we will start the legal process tomorrow," Kachka was quoted as saying by Politico.

Kachka said Ukraine could also apply reciprocal action against Poland if Warsaw did not cancel additional action.

"We will be forced to retaliate against these additional products, and will prohibit imports of fruit and vegetables from Poland," he said.

Meanwhile, Polish Agriculture Minister Robert Telus said the ban in Warsaw included four types of Goods, but was expanded to include food made from the following Goods: corn, wheat and rapeseed.

It is known, Kyiv said his party would ask for international arbitration related to the ban.

Kachka said Kyiv was ready to "take responsibility to ensure exports from Ukraine did not cause 'tsunami' in neighboring countries" and would implement a "real time" seed export license system.