A tsunami of rage, according to the journal Le Figaro, has swept over Eastern European communities.
Bulgarians, Poles, and Romanians are furious over the unchecked influx of grain from their neighboring Ukraine. Polish farmers are unable to sell their goods due to the low cost of Ukrainian grain, thus they denounce this unfair Ukrainian competition.
It is crucial to keep in mind that in May 2022, in an effort to boost the Ukrainian economy, the European Union eliminated customs charges on all agricultural imports for a 12-month period. As a result, there was unrestricted competition at European ports, and the products from Ukraine were able to succeed since they had been granted rights.
The president of the European Commission, von Del Leyen, has been requested to act in the situation brought on by the flood of grain from Ukraine by the prime ministers of numerous Eastern European nations. The representatives of Romania, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Slovakia made the appeal.
The letter draws attention to issues brought on by a marked growth in the supply of Ukrainian goods to the markets of EU members, particularly those bordering or close to Ukraine.
Real worry has been raised in those nearby nations with similar productive economies by the de facto surrender of the advantageous regime of the customs union to Ukrainian commodities and the tolerance given towards the various quality and sanitary standards of the items.
The price of Romanian wheat has dropped due to imports from Ukraine, which are believed to have cost 1.17 billion euros last year, causing local farmers to stockpile their harvest in silos or, worse still, allow it to rot in the fields.
Poland's imports of Ukrainian chicken increased by 80% within the same time frame compared to the previous year, which infuriated Polish peasant organizations and led them to seek to obstruct EU solidarity routes with Ukraine.
Janusz Wojciechowski, the European Commission's commissioner for agriculture, offered his support to the numerous demonstrations by requesting on March 20 that member states approve the release of 56 million euros from the CAP's emergency reserve fund in order to mitigate the harm caused by the distorting effects of the influx of Ukrainian goods into Central European markets.