The Committee on Economic Policy and Innovation of the Bulgarian Parliament has approved a draft decision stating that the country does not support extending the import ban of certain agricultural products from Ukraine after 15 September 2023.

As Forbes Bulgaria reports, ten committee members voted in favour of the draft decision, four voted against, and two abstained. The parliament will make the final decision at a plenary session.

Bulgaria's draft position on agricultural imports from Ukraine states that the country does not support extending the emergency measure to ban imports of wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seeds from Ukraine to Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia after 15 September. The document instructs the country's Council of Ministers to take the necessary measures to express this position.

The draft law was submitted by lawmakers from the PP-DB, GERB and DPS party factions, Kiril Petkov, Delyan Peevski, Atanas Atanasov, Hamid Hamid, Rumen Hristov and Alexander Ivanov. Farmers did not welcome it, saying they were shocked by the decision.

Iliya Prodanov, Chairman of Bulgaria's National Grain Producer Association, said the decision did not take into account the effects of the decision and that the wording "endangers Bulgarian producers".

Prodanov believes the decision threatens the country's agricultural sector. He expressed concern that the current tensions in the sector "will one day erupt on a vast scale" and noted that the association will protect the interests of producers "by all means possible".

On 12 September, the Polish government adopted a resolution expressing its intention to extend the ban at national level should it not be continued at EU level.

In response, Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal stated that he would seek arbitration from the World Trade Organization if Poland blocks Ukrainian grain exports.

Read also: 15 September Crisis: New Test for Ukraine-Poland Relations