April 20 (SeeNews) - The European Commission said it is proposing to grant a further 100 million euro ($109.75 million) in aid of farmers affected by agri-food imports from Ukraine, in response to a call for intervention by five EU member states from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) - Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia.
The Commission will take preventive measures under common market trade rules with regard to imports of wheat, maize, sunflower and rapeseed from Ukraine, in addition to launching an investigation on other sensitive products, a Commission spokeswoman said as seen in a press briefing video on Wednesday.
There is as yet no information on the exact allocation per country in the proposed second packagfe of financial support, a Commission representative told SeeNews on Thursday.
"We underlined the importance of rapidly following a common EU approach, rather than unilateral solutions to avoid multiple bans and solutions which put the internal market at risk," the Commission noted in a statement, adding that the availability of the proposed package is subject to the member states lifting their unilateral measures.
The move comes as Bulgaria on Wednesday became the fourth EU member state, after Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, to impose a temporary ban on the imports of certain grains, honey, dairy and meat products from Ukraine.
The most affected farmers have already benefited from a support package of 56.3 million euro in total, the EC spokeswoman recalled. Last month, the Commission said it will grant financial aid of 26.8 million euro to farmers in Bulgaria and Romania to address concerns by local agricultural producers on grain imports from Ukraine.
In a separate statement, the Bulgarian agriculture ministry said late on Wednesday that the Commission's proposal involves import restrictions on four types of agri-foods from Ukraine, with others to be put under permanent monitoring and included in the restrictions if necessary.
Discussions between the Commission and the governments of the five countries and Ukraine are ongoing, with a view to finalising a swift solution in the coming days, the EU executive also said.
($ = 0.9111 euro)