Farmers in Romania and Bulgaria protested on April 7 against a glut of agricultural products from Ukraine that has flooded the market in those countries and lowered prices for local farmers.
About 100 farmers converged in Bucharest, while hundreds more protested across Romania in long convoys of tractors. In Bulgaria, grain producers blocked some border crossings with farm vehicles.
Farmers also gathered outside the office of the European Commission's representative in Bucharest holding posters that read: “Do not punish our solidarity,” while others urged European Union officials to "take responsibility, take action, take care.”
The EU waived customs duties and import quotas on Ukrainian agricultural products in May 2022 as a way of facilitating transport of the products to world markets amid Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The expectation was that Ukrainian grain would transit through the EU on its way to those traditional markets. But according to grain producers, it has flooded the internal markets of member countries, undercutting the prices local producers can charge for their goods.
SEE ALSO: By Helping War-Torn Ukraine Get Its Grain To Market, The EU Is Accused Of Abandoning Its OwnBulgarian grain producers are calling for the European Union to cancel the regulation.
"Bulgarian farmers' warehouses are full of stagnant produce. There is no market for Bulgarian grain. The harvest is coming in two months," said the National Association of Bulgarian Grain Producers. According to their data, 40 percent of last year's grain and sunflower harvest remains unsold.
Liliana Piron, executive director of the League of Romanian Agriculture Producers' Associations, said at the Bucharest protest that his country's farmers have “reached a point where they feel they can no longer face the costs” of "unfair competition” from Ukraine.
“We are less than three months away from the new harvest and the danger is real, that the goods we will have ready this season will not be able to be sold at prices above production costs,” she said. “We will witness a chain of bankruptcies of Romanian farmers.’’
Polish farmers have also held protests in recent weeks. Poland's agriculture minister, Henryk Kowalczyk, resigned on April 5 after he became the focus of farmers' anger.
Brussels last month pledged to help grain and cereal farmers in Romania, Bulgaria, and Poland with a total compensation package of 56.3 million euros ($61 million) -- 16.7 million for Bulgaria; nearly 30 million for Poland, and 10 million for Romania. Farmers and national governments said the offer wasn't good enough.
“If today’s protest is not heard in Brussels, we will consider larger actions with the participation of other countries that share the same view,” said Iliya Prodanov, head of the grain producers’ association in Bulgaria.