Bulgaria introduces a temporary ban on food imports from Ukraine, with the exception of transit goods.
This was stated by the head of the interim government of Bulgaria, Gilib Donev, BNR reports.
"The main reason is that last year, contrary to the concept of the so-called solidarity corridors, significant volumes of food remained in the country and disrupted the main production and trade chains. If this trend continues and even increases, which is quite realistic after similar bans introduced by other countries it can end up with extremely difficult consequences for Bulgarian business," Donov explained.
He noted that he hopes that "Brussels will listen and understand the positions" of Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia and rethink its position.
"Bulgaria remains in solidarity with Ukraine, but the bankruptcy of Bulgarian farmers will not contribute to this," said Donev.
It is not yet known how long the temporary ban on food imports from Ukraine will be in effect, but the government will make a relevant decision at today's meeting.
In recent days, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia have banned the import of Ukrainian agricultural products, in Romania there are calls for this due to the damage to local farmers due to lower prices of Ukrainian products.
The day before, Ukraine agreed with Poland to unblock the transit of its grain.
The Polish Minister of Agriculture, Robert Telus, announced that grain cargoes from Ukraine passing through Poland will be accompanied and monitored using the SENT system - that is, they will be sealed by GPS trackers. This will make it possible to track the shipments to find out whether they really left Poland.
The European Commission welcomed the agreement between Poland and Ukraine on the transit of Ukrainian grain, but emphasized that it has not changed its position on the inadmissibility of unilateral actions by Warsaw.