May 4 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria will receive 9.77 million euro ($10.8 million) out of a 100 million euro support package offered by the European Commission to five frontline EU member states in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) to mitigate the impact of Ukraine agri-food imports on their markets, EU agriculture commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski said.
The proposal allows each of the affected member states -- Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, to couple the EU grant with state budget financing, in amounts of up to 200% of the grant, Wojciechowski said in a social media post on Wednesday.
Bulgaria's caretaker government on Wednesday decided to lift the ban it recently imposed on imports of agri-foods from Ukraine. The withdrawal of such a ban imposed by three more CEE countries was a condition that Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia had to fulfil in order to reach an agreement with the European Commission that includes the EU support package.
Earlier this week, the Commission said it is suspending the imports of Ukrainian wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seed into Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia from May 2 until June 5, the date of expiry of special EU trade concessions granted to Ukraine in the wake of Russia's invasion. The remaining states of the 27-member bloc will continue to import Ukrainian grains, while the CEE countries are required to resume imports of other products they had banned, such as honey, dairy, eggs, and meat.
($ = 0.9029 euro)