Tension Between Ukraine and Ally Poland Over Grain Exports Vexes EU
livemint.comWARSAW—Russia’s blockage of Ukrainian food exports has become a painful political issue next door in the European Union. EU authorities must decide Friday whether to extend a ban preventing Ukrainian grain from being sold in neighboring EU countries, an issue that has sparked a rift between Kyiv and Poland, one of the Ukrainian government’s strongest backers in the war. The temporary ban, aimed at keeping out cheaper exports, expires at midnight Friday.
The decision is the first of several coming tests of European support for Ukraine, at a time when questions are rising about Washington’s commitment to Kyiv ahead of next year’s presidential election. Poland is holding parliamentary elections next month, with the nationalist government facing a tight race in which it hopes to rally rural voters for support. Elections in Slovakia at the end of this month could return to government Robert Fico, polls show.
He has campaigned against Western sanctions on Russia. The EU’s 27 member states must decide by year-end on a proposed economic aid package of roughly $53 billion for Ukraine and a military assistance proposal of roughly $21 billion. Tensions over the grain issue have increased ahead of Friday’s deadline for the EU to decide whether to extend the current arrangements, which permit Ukrainian grain exports to enter Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria only to transit to other markets.
Poland has threatened to break EU rules and act unilaterally to ban Ukrainian grain if the EU doesn’t extend the current arrangement until year-end. Kyiv has warned it will take the bloc to the World Trade Organization to seek compensation if the ban isn’t lifted. “Ukraine expects the European Commission to keep its word and lift
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