István Nagy, Minister of Agriculture, said the interests of Hungarian farmers come first, therefore, Hungary will maintain its ban on imports of Ukrainian food products after the expiry of the free trade agreement between Brussels and Kyiv.
Commenting on his social media page, Minister Nagy noted that after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, Brussels decided to allow unlimited and duty-free entry of Ukrainian produce into the territory of the European Union. As a result, large quantities of Ukrainian grain and other farm products of dubious quality have flowed into EU territory without control, jeopardising the livelihood of Hungarian farmers. In order to protect the interests of Hungarian farmers, Hungary introduced a ban on imports of these products.
Minister Nagy said the unlimited and unilateral EU authorisation of Ukrainian imports expired on June 5, and after that, the pre-war trade agreement between Ukraine and the EU temporarily came into force. According to this, Ukraine can import farm products into the EU duty-free according to specified quotas. Despite the reduction in import volume, there is still no guarantee that imports arriving in the EU will not be stuck in member states near the border, causing huge market disruptions again, the minister said.
Another problem is that the regulation still does not provide a solution for corn, one of the most sensitive products from the Hungarian point of view, given that the tariff rate is zero. In addition, even the reduced quotas would give Ukrainian farmers an excessive competitive advantage to the detriment of Hungarian producers, primarily in the case of meat and eggs. In this situation, Hungary continues to maintain the import ban introduced under national jurisdiction two years ago to protect the interests of Hungarian farmers, Nagy said.
Minister Nagy said Hungary continues to stand by the principle that food arriving in the EU must comply with the same rules and traceability criteria as products made in the EU. Ukraine must not endanger the EU’s agricultural markets, for which Brussels must find a long-term and reassuring solution. Until this happens, Hungary will maintain the restrictive measures, Minister Nagy said.
