Bulgaria to ask EU to suspend egg imports from Ukraine

Bulgaria will request the suspension of egg imports from Ukraine at a meeting of the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Brussels on Sept. 23, Bulgarian Agriculture Minister Georgi Takhov said on Sept. 19.

The statement comes as a sign of persisting disputes between Ukraine and eastern EU members over agricultural trade.

The quarrels boiled over into border blockades on the Ukrainian-Polish border in late 2023 and early 2024, import bans on Ukrainian commodities like corn and wheat, and farmers' protests in Poland, Bulgaria, and elsewhere.

According to Takhov, Bulgarian producers are facing difficulties due to the growth of imports, which, in their opinion, hinders competition in the domestic market, Bulgarian 24 Chasa news outlet reported.

The Bulgarian minister did not rule out the introduction of "protective measures" to limit trade with Ukraine.

"When the import of a certain type of product or commodity — vegetables, meat, eggs — reaches certain limits that the European Commission has outlined in advance, then we can activate the mechanism of banning their import. We are currently doing this in terms of eggs," Takhov said.

The updated rules of duty-free and quota-free trade in agricultural products between Ukraine and the EU came into force on June 6.

The new free-trade scheme incorporates an automatic safeguard mechanism designed to protect specific domestic sectors deemed 'sensitive'—including eggs, poultry, sugar, oats, maize, hulled grains, and honey—from a surge in imports due to the lifting of quotas and tariffs.

This allows the European Commission to activate the so-called emergency brake and reintroduce tariff-rate quotas if imports of these commodities surpass the average quantities imported between July 1, 2021, and Dec. 31, 2023.

Ukrainian agricultural imports into the EU surged in 2022 after the outbreak of the full-scale war. The European bloc lifted tariffs on Ukrainian goods after the invasion's start to alleviate the country's economy amid Russian attacks and the blockade of the Black Sea trade routes.

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The Kyiv IndependentAndrea Januta