The European Union will represent Poland, Hungary and Slovakia in a trade dispute with Ukraine at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) over the ban on Ukrainian grain by the three EU members, European Commission spokeswoman Miriam Garcia Ferrer said on 21 September.
The three countries said they imposed the bans to protect their farmers from the growing influx of grain and other food products from Ukraine, a shift driven by Russia's blockade of the Black Sea, during which Ukrainian grain exports must go through the EU.
Kiev said it filed a legal action against the three countries at the WTO this week, which the three countries said was unfounded.
The import bans on these three countries were an extension of a previous EU-wide ban, which the European Commission decided to suspend last week. Their insistence that the bans remain in place means a widening wedge between EU members, and some governments have criticised them for not supporting Ukraine in its conflict with Russia.
Trade policies fall under the exclusive competence of the EU, Ferrero said, adding that trade agreements are negotiated and concluded by the EU, not by its members.
The statement indicates both the EU's mandate to argue in their favour at the WTO and the lack of power of the three countries to impose unilateral bans.
Amid rising tensions between Ukraine and three eastern EU countries, Poland, one of Ukraine's biggest supporters in the fight against Russia, said it would stop sending arms to Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky commented that some countries were only pretending to help his country. (Kl)
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