Szijjártó: Hungary to Allow Grain Deliveries to Africa, But Not the Ruining Hungarian Farmers

Minister of Foreign Affairs Péter Szijjártó announced on Facebook on Friday that Hungary will allow Ukrainian grain to be delivered to Africa. However, the minister also added that the government won’t allow Hungarian farmers ‘to be ruined’. The minister was referring to the unilateral decision made by Hungary and other Central and Eastern European countries to keep the ban on Ukrainian grain imports destined for their markets. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán also reaffirmed this position this morning in his regular Friday interview on public Kossuth radio.

In his post, Szijjártó also

accused the European Union and Ukraine of misleading the European public

on the Ukrainian issue of grain exports. He argued that while European countries opened up transit routes to ensure that Ukrainian grain reaches seaports for transport to Africa, eventually, European countries were also ‘flooded’ with Ukrainian grain.

‘We won’t allow Hungarian farmers to be ruined,’ the minister declared also adding that ‘The deceitful propaganda in Brussels and Kyiv won’t stop us.’

Orbán: Hungary to Extend Ukrainian Grain Import Ban ‘if Brussels Fails to Act’

Hungary will extend the ban on the import of Ukrainian grain within its own competence, alongside Romania, Poland and Slovakia, if Brussels fails to take appropriate action, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in an interview with public Kossuth radio on Friday.

‘If they don’t extend it by midnight, then…we will extend the import ban…which will mean a serious fight in Brussels,’ he said. He also added that the European Union institutions were ‘unwilling to side with member states and the European people’,

and instead followed US interests when it came to the issue of grain.

The prime minister insisted that ‘Ukrainian grain is not really Ukrainian, but a commercial product from lands that the United States has likely owned for a long time.’

The Antecedents

Hungarian Minister of Agriculture István Nagy announced on Thursday, 14 September on cable news television HírTV that Hungary will ban the importing of grain as as well as of 24 additional types of agricultural goods from Ukraine.

In the interview, Nagy reiterated what he had highlighted after his meetings with his Central European counterparts earlier this week, namely that the Hungarian government is committed to supporting Hungarian farmers, and to prolonging the ban on Ukrainian grain that is expiring on 15 September.

‘Products are created there in a different system of production, and with different laws, without observing any regulations. Then they are exported to European markets, without any tariffs or any regulations. They create an impossible situation for European farmers and producers,’ the minister stressed.

On 13 September, Warsaw was the first to announce that they are banning the imports of Ukrainian grain, not waiting for the EU to act. The Polish government cited the need to protect Polish farmers as the reason for the decision that is likely to anger both Kyiv and Brussels.

Sources: Hungarian Conservative/MTI