Next Friday, Hungarian farmers are preparing to protest on the border with Ukraine near the town of Záhony against the EU's extension of the preferential trade regime with Ukraine, in particular for grain. 

As reported by Telex, István Jakab, the head of the Association of Farming Cooperatives in Hungary (Magosz), said that they were dissatisfied with the European Commission's plans to extend the suspension of import quotas and duties for Ukrainian exports to the EU, as they would have to compete with products whose production "does not have to take into account any EU requirements". 

The Association said that farmers "support the Hungarian government, which protects their interests from Brussels". 

Earlier, Hungarian Agriculture Minister István Nagy said that the European Commission's proposal to extend the preferential trade regime with Ukraine "does not offer any solutions" to the issue of Ukrainian grain, so Hungary plans to maintain its national ban on imports of agricultural products from Ukraine.

On Wednesday, the European Commission officially proposed to extend the suspension of import quotas and duties for Ukrainian exports to the EU for another year, while also including safety measures for agricultural products.

The EU's preferential trade regime with Ukraine has been in place since 4 June 2022 and was extended in 2023. At the same time, due to farmers' dissatisfaction, the EU imposed temporary restrictions on certain types of agricultural products for several months in 2023, and some countries, including Hungary, extended them unilaterally after the EU's cancellation.

The current extension of the duty-free trade regime for Ukraine expires on 5 June 2024 and for Moldova on 24 July 2024.