EU nations reach deal 'in principle' to transit grain from Ukraine

The European Commission said Friday that it has secured an 'in principle' agreement to lift the ban on the transit of Ukrainian grain via five EU member nations.

This comes after concerns were raised earlier by Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia that grain from Ukraine intended for export to other nations had wound up in their domestic markets, driving down prices for local farmers.

Grain from Ukraine that couldn't be shipped through the Black Sea ports due to Russia's invasion was routed through the five nations.Millions of tonnes of grain were then stuck in bottlenecks in the nations bordering Ukraine, forcing local farmers to compete with a flood of cheap Ukrainian imports that farmers said the supply and demand were skewed which led to the chaos.

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According to a tweet from Valdis Dombrovskis, vice president of the European Commission, the EU executive has agreed in principle with the five to address concerns of both farmers in neighbouring EU countries and Ukraine.

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He claimed that safeguard measures for four products—wheat, maize, rapeseed, and sunflower seed—were included in the agreement. However, he did not reveal anything further.

According to Dombrovskis, the agreement also includes an assistance package for regional farmers worth 100 million euros ($110.25 million).

Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky said that he had spoken to Charles Michel, the head of the European Council, on Friday to express his worries with what he called a detrimental prohibition on the export of agricultural goods.

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"This gives the Kremlin dangerous hope, the hope that in our common European home someone's wrong decisions can prevail over common interests," he said in a video address.

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As per the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen the pact "preserves both Ukraine's exports capacity so it can continue feeding the world, and our farmers' livelihoods."

Former Russian president and a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Medvedev, said last Sunday that if the G7 decided to impose export restrictions on Russia, Moscow would retaliate by cancelling the Black Sea Grain Agreement, which permits crucial grain shipments from Ukraine.

"This idea from the idiots at the G7 about a total ban of exports to our country by default is beautiful in that it implies a reciprocal ban on imports from our country, including categories of goods that are the most sensitive for the G7," Medvedev said in a post on his Telegram channel.

According to last week's report by the Japanese Kyodo news agency, which cited sources within the Japanese government, the Group of Seven (G7) nations are proposing a blanket ban on exports to Russia.

Russia has threatened on many occasions to withdraw from the grain agreement, which is set to expire on 18 May. "In such a case, the grain deal - and many other things that they need - will end for them," he added.

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