As we have already informed, in the last three days the Bulgarian farmers moved to effective protest actions, closing the main border crossing points with Romania.
In our northern neighbor, they fully support the actions of colleagues abroad. Romanian farmers have already taken protest action in the capital Bucharest and at the key port of Constanta, and others have joined the Bulgarians.
In front of journalists from Observer news, the protesters told about what is happening in the country.
When we arrive with the trucks at the port of Constanta, we have no rights. We stay there, we can stay two, three weeks… until we get old. The Ukrainians go and just pass by - no one asks them, no one says anything. They don't pay any duties, they don't have any restrictions, even traffic restrictions don't apply to them to be honest. They pass through us like at home, not even like home, but like through the jungle.”
"Last week in the European Commission, Romania received the promise of aid for farmers. Of all the affected countries in the EU, we received the least amount of money - about ten million euros. At the same time, imports into the country have increased over the last year by 433%, with most products coming from Ukraine," said Kostadinu Petrescu, from Sibiu.
The problem is not local to the country, it covers other countries close to the conflict. On this occasion, Nicolae Čuka, Prime Minister of Romania stated: "I discussed the situation with the Prime Minister of Poland, we are engaged together in building a strategy to discuss with the European Commission, what should be the mechanisms for transporting grain from Ukraine and the final destination , to avoid dumping prices in our countries."
His Polish counterpart, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, also weighed in with a press conference on the subject on Wednesday:
"We demand the use of all regulatory tools - quotas, duties, which will limit or block the import of Ukrainian grain into Poland." He said he had agreed, along with the leaders of several countries neighboring Ukraine, to write to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to demand concrete action.
Against this background, discontent in Poland is gaining momentum. Local farmers protested outside the office of the Minister of Agriculture, where they turned over sacks of grain and threatened that this was just the beginning.
"Poland is in the European Union, therefore our cereals meet EU standards. Ukraine is not in the Union and the provisions do not apply to it. There are also Ukrainian products of good quality, but in mass it is much worse, that's clear," said Monika Piantkowska, president of the Chamber of Agriculture in Poland.
Our Romanian colleagues shared with us what is happening at the moment in Constanta. As of March 30, the prices of grain with delivery to port are: bread wheat - 230 EUR/ton, feed wheat - 218 EUR/ton, corn - 220 EUR/ton, barley - 195 EUR/ton, sunflower - 390 dollars/ton.
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