Slovakia is ready to extend the ban on imports of agricultural products from Ukraine if the European Commission does not find a suitable way to cope with the surplus of Ukrainian grain in Europe. This was stated by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Richard Takacs after a meeting of the Council of Agriculture and Fisheries in Brussels on Monday, TASR reports.


Takacs also said that before the meeting he had spoken with European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič and European Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski. During his first working visit to Brussels, Takacs held talks with his counterparts from the Visegrad Four (V4) countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia) and Austria.


The Slovak minister clarified that the topic of imports of Ukrainian grain to the EU was raised at all meetings. This issue was not the subject of official negotiations, but everyone discussed it during individual meetings, he added. According to Takacs, this is a big problem from the point of view of Slovakia, which otherwise supports the transportation of Ukrainian grain through transit corridors to third countries.