Takac: Slovakia Dissatisfied with Quotas for Imports from Ukraine

Brussels, May 27 (TASR-correspondent) - Slovakia isn't satisfied with the quotas for triggering the so-called safety brake to protect the single market that were set for imports of agro-commodities from Ukraine to the EU, said Slovak Agriculture Minister Richard Takac (Smer-SD) following a meeting of the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Brussels. Takac stressed that for the time being, imports of agricultural and animal products from Ukraine into the EU are operating according to what has been agreed and approved. "This means that limits are set for a part of some commodities," he said. According to him, Slovakia has criticised two issues. The first is that cereals aren't included in these limits, which causes Slovakia considerable problems. The second criticism concerns import limits in regards to the enhanced control mechanism. The EU sets import limits when it's concerned about threats to the stability of the single market. These limits on imports from Ukraine were set by the Union during the Russian invasion of Ukraine and not during the pre-war period of Ukrainian duty-free exports to Europe. Takac pointed out that these limits are now too high to trigger the emergency brake. According to the minister, Slovakia isn't alone in its criticism of the current state of affairs. He noted that Hungary and Poland have introduced their own stricter bans on imports of some Ukrainian agri-commodities. zel/df