EU lawmakers call for ban on Russian grain

Latvian European Parliament lawmaker Roberts Zile and 38 fellow members of the European Parliament (‘MEP’) – most from Balkan states – have written to the European Commission to demand that Russian grain imports be banned across the EU.

‘Russian grain competes with Ukrainian grain, taking away market share both in the EU and globally. Russia is using food as a weapon, sabotaging the Black Sea Grain Initiative, stealing and reselling Ukrainian grain,’ Zile said in a posting on X, formerly Twitter, 8 March.

‘A letter initiated by me and co-signed by 38 MEPs has been sent to the European Commission regarding the prohibition of Russian grain imports throughout the EU,’ he said. ‘Russian grain on the EU market lowers grain prices and harms EU producers.’

The letter was signed ‘mainly by MEPs from Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, as well as MEPs from the Czech Republic, Belgium, Slovakia, Romania, Finland, Sweden and France,’ reported Latvian news agency LETA. ‘Zīle points out that, seeing how Latvia and the Baltic states individually impose restrictions on Russian agricultural production, it is clear that there should be greater restrictions at the European level. According to the MEP, the fact that Russian grain imports are a problem is clearly visible in the protest actions of farmers in several EU countries,’ the agency explained.

During the first 10 months of 2023, EU Member States reportedly imported food and agricultural products from Russia worth 2.2 billion euros, which according to Zile and his fellow lawmakers directly or indirectly supports Russia and its military operation in Ukraine.