Farmers in Romania and Bulgaria staged protests on Friday against the European Union’s decision to exempt agricultural products from Ukraine, which has oversupplied local markets and contributed to lower prices, the Associated Press (AP) reported on Friday.
“Farmers in Romania and Bulgaria organized protests on Friday over the European Union’s stance on excessive supplies of Ukrainian agricultural products that have flooded local markets and weakened prices,” AP reports.
Protests were held in Bucharest and other cities in Romania. In Bulgaria, farmers blocked several border crossings.
“There are less than three months left before the new harvest and there is a danger that the products will not be able to be sold above the production price,” AP quoted Liliana Peron, executive director of the Romanian Farmers Association, as saying.
In recent weeks, Polish farmers have also been protesting against the EU’s duty-free supplies of Ukrainian grain to European markets, forcing the country’s Agriculture Minister Henryk Kowalczyk to resign.
Last year, the EU abolished customs tariffs for Ukraine to allow for freer grain supplies.
On Monday, the European Commission announced its desire to help the population of Ukraine by organizing the export of Ukrainian grain, but it is making sure that the EU market does not suffer too much from Kyiv’s support measures.
Romanian authorities are introducing new rules for housing and food subsidies for Ukrainian refugees starting from May: now the money will be received only by those who have found a job, the EFE news agency reported.
In addition, those citizens of Ukraine whose children go to school in Romania will be able to count on the subsidies.
Under the new rules, the state will no longer pay housing costs to landlords who house refugees, and tenants will receive subsidies directly. Refugee camps will receive subsidies from the state as before. Details of these rules will be made public at a later date, the agency notes.
EFE explains that Bucharest has taken such measures against the background of a significant labor shortage in Romania. More than 3.8 million Ukrainians arrived in the country since February 2022, but the vast majority went to other European countries. According to Romanian authorities, about 110,000 Ukrainian refugees currently remain in the country, but less than 10 percent of them have a work contract.
Farmers in Romania and Bulgaria staged protests Friday against the European Union’s decision to exempt agricultural products from Ukraine from duties, which ended up oversaturating local markets and contributing to lower prices, the Associated Press (AP) reported Friday.
“Farmers in Romania and Bulgaria staged protests Friday over the European Union’s stance on excessive supplies of Ukrainian agricultural products that have flooded local markets and weakened prices,” AP reported.
Protests took place in Bucharest and other Romanian cities. In Bulgaria, farmers blocked several border points.
“The new harvest is less than three months away and there is a danger that produce cannot be sold above the production price,” AP quoted Liliana Peron, executive director of the Romanian Farmers’ Association, as saying.
Polish farmers have also protested in recent weeks over duty-free supplies of Ukrainian grain to European markets adopted by the EU, forcing the country’s Agriculture Minister Henrik Kowalczyk to resign.
Last year, the EU abolished customs tariffs for Ukraine for freer grain shipments.
On Monday, the European Commission said it wanted to help the Ukrainian population by organizing the export of Ukrainian grain, but it is making sure that the EU market is not hit too hard by Kiev’s support measures.
Romania has temporarily suspended the passage of trucks across the state border, and the traffic police have banned the passage of all vehicles traveling from three road checkpoints on the Ukrainian-Romanian border due to difficult weather conditions, the Western Regional Department of the State Border Service reported on Facebook.
“The road police of Romania prohibited the passage of all vehicles from the checkpoints “Dyakovtsy-Rakovetsy”, “Porubnoe-Siret” and “Krasnoilsk-Veche de Sus” in the direction of Siret and Suceava due to snow drifts and unsatisfactory condition of roads in these sections,” – explained in the message.
The State Border Service asks citizens to take this information into account when planning trips to Romania.
At the same time, the state border with Poland, Slovakia and Hungary, the checkpoints operate stably, the travel is not hampered.
The Agency for Reconstruction clarified that in the Chernivtsi region, where the precipitation continues for the third day, snow removal technicians are working.
“Thanks to the coordinated work of the contracting organizations of the Agency for reconstruction, the passage on state roads of Bukovina is provided, restrictions are not introduced,” – said in Telegram agency.
Earlier it was reported that due to icing of the contact network on the Lviv railroad with a delay of 30 minutes or more were eight trains. By mid-day, only train № 113/114 Lviv-Kharkiv was delayed by 30 minutes. The rest of the trains were back on schedule.
Ukrainian airline SkyUp Airlines evacuated its last plane from Boryspil airport to Iasi, Romania, profile publication avianews reported.
“I can only point out one thing – the flight was made in the interests of the state,” the company’s general director Dmitry Seroukhov confirmed to Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Wednesday.
According to Flightradar24 resource, on April 4, the pilots of Boeing 737-800 SkyUp with UR-SQP registration turned on the aircraft transmitter in the sky near Chernivtsi, the aircraft was en route from Boryspil airport to Iasi, Romania, where it landed at 20:06.
Avianews claims that at night during the full-scale invasion of Russia, pilots tried to evacuate the plane to Chisinau, but air traffic controllers ordered to return to the airport because the sky was closed to civil planes.
According to the profile publication, this is currently the third successful evacuation of passenger aircraft from airports in Ukraine since the large-scale Russian invasion: April 2, 2022 “Rosa Vetrov” evacuated from Lviv aircraft ATR-72, and September 13 also from Lviv could evacuate their Airbus A320 low-cost carrier Wizz Air.
In addition the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported on the evacuation of two A400Ms from Boryspil by Turkey in December.
The former head of UIA Yevhen Dyhne reported that the airline had 12 planes “stuck” in Boryspil and another one in Odessa, while Wizz Air had three planes still remaining at Kiev (Zhulyany) airport.
Leaders of five Central and Eastern European countries have urged the European Commission to take action in connection with a surplus of grain and other Ukrainian food on their territory, the Associated Press reported from Warsaw.
“We call on the European Commission to study the possibility of buying accumulated grain from EU member states bordering Ukraine for humanitarian needs,” reads a letter addressed to EC President Ursula von der Leyen on behalf of the prime ministers of Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.
“We also reiterate our call for financial support from the EU to accelerate the development of transport infrastructure (for the export of grain – IF),” it says.
It is pointed out that such products remain on the shelves of these countries in excess, reducing prices, and do not reach the countries that are ready to buy them outside the EU.
The European Commission earlier said that it intended to quickly launch an assistance mechanism for countries that faced an influx of Ukrainian products.
