Bulgarian parliament votes to lift ban on grain imports from Ukraine

By Ahmet Gencturk

ATHENS (AA) - Bulgaria’s parliament voted to lift the ban on grain imports from Ukraine, the state-run BTA news agency reported on Thursday.

A draft resolution tabled by the governing coalition was adopted with 124 votes in favor, 69 against, and 8 abstentions, it said, adding that it is now up to the Cabinet to take the necessary actions.

The resolution said that taking into consideration Bulgaria’s solidarity with Ukraine and need for agricultural product supplies for global food security, Bulgaria does not support the extension of the ban on Ukrainian wheat, corn, rapeseed, and sunflower seed imports in Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia beyond Sept. 15.

According to the resolution, the lift of the ban will not put Bulgarian agricultural producers' competitiveness at risk.

This April, Poland and Hungary unilaterally closed their borders to grain and food imports from Ukraine.

In June, the European Commission announced that it would extend the ban on Ukrainian grain until Sept. 15, an arrangement allowing five of Ukraine’s EU neighbors – Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia – to ban domestic sales of some Ukrainian grains.

The "exceptional and temporary preventive measures" were adopted on May 2 on imports of wheat, maize, rapeseed, and sunflower seed from Ukraine under the exceptional safeguard of the Autonomous Trade Measures Regulation.