Norbert LINS (EPP, DE), Chair of the EP Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development debriefs with the press the travel of the delegation to the Polish-Ukrainian border on 20-21 June 2022. This transcription is a result of an automatic process. Please check against delivery.

EU - Ukraine (T)

press conference

MÜLLER, Ulrike (Renew, DE)

food safety (T)

Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development

LINS, Norbert (EPP, DE)

DORFMANN, Herbert (EPP, IT)

Poland

OLEKAS, Juozas (S&D, LT)

METZ, Tilly (Greens/EFA, LU)

VRECIONOVÁ, Veronika (ECR, CZ)

solidarity with Ukraine (T)

Press conference by Norbert LINS (EPP, DE), Chair of the EP Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development on the visit of an AGRI Delegation to the Polish-Ukrainian Border

SOUNDBITE (English), Norbert LINS, Chair of the EP Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, Thank you very much for your introductions. And I would like to welcome all of you who are in the room or who are participating via remote. Thank you very much for your interest on our visit and our fact finding mission. What is happening on the Polish and Ukrainian borders that we had the possibility to visit on the spot? When it comes to the crossing of the road between the Ukrainian and the Polish border and we were able to visit on the spot when it came or when it comes to the train crossing between the Ukrainian and the Polish border.

SOUNDBITE (English), Norbert LINS, Chair of the EP Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, First, I want to thank the Polish authorities and especially Ms.Voivode for your organisation, for your help, to get all the information we received yesterday and today and with all the meetings that took place yesterday and today, first with the Polish Regional Administration here, then the two points on at the spot at the border. And today we had meetings with two Ukrainian representatives, one of the Trade Association for Agriculture Products, and one with a colleague and a member of Ukrainian parliament. So that we are now able to have a better picture and picture on that what is happening here in Poland and close to the Polish Ukrainian border.

SOUNDBITE (English), Norbert LINS, Chair of the EP Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, We saw that there is, I would say, world-prepared infrastructure available, that Poland has done a lot to be better prepared for and the exports coming from Ukraine. And we were a little bit surprised when we went into the details of the export exports that we saw that on the road there is only more or less 10% of the export that is grain. With the different types of products, we saw that there is rapeseed, that there is corn, that there is sunflower oil, but there is more or less no wheat exported from Ukraine through the Polish-Ukrainian border.

SOUNDBITE (English), Norbert LINS, Chair of the EP Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, And the same situation we have found out at the train, on the spot when it comes to the train crossing there, we saw the priority of grain is a little bit more, is 25%, but more or less with the same products: rapeseed, corn, sunflower oil as well, and more or less no wheat. And we had the impression through our delegation visit that the action plan of the European Commission about the solidarity lanes are maybe not that much known as we expect it expected here. So we are of the opinion that more coordination, more coordination is needed.

SOUNDBITE (English), Norbert LINS, Chair of the EP Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, But once we had the feeling, and we got the information, that a lot of meetings are taking place between the Ukrainian and the Polish authorities, and there is a satisfaction, maybe not 100%, but it cannot be 100%. But there is a good cooperation between the Ukrainian and Polish authorities. We had the impression when we talked to the Farmers Association this morning that there is more coordination needed not only when it comes to export, but when it comes to the transit and of this grain.

SOUNDBITE (English), Norbert LINS, Chair of the EP Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, So there are fears around that they are possible disturbances. And in the Polish market, when there is no destination of this grain or not 100% of this grain, it is clear where we where the destination, where the destination is.

SOUNDBITE (English), Norbert LINS, Chair of the EP Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, So in our view, there is maybe a need for intervention, for more coordination on the European level to bring stakeholders together how we can overcome this situation. The one is that we need more storage facility. This was a proposal made by Joe Biden, by the US president last Friday. I think this is right.

SOUNDBITE (English), Norbert LINS, Chair of the EP Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, But we should not forget that the one question is to import the grain and the other question is to guarantee the transit and to avoid disturbances on the Polish market and even on the European market, so that most of the grain, especially wheat, should go to third countries, to the northern part of Africa, to the far east. So this was our goal when we decided to do this trip, to do this mission to Ukraine.

SOUNDBITE (English), Norbert LINS, Chair of the EP Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, And I ask, so we have a very important week in front of us on the European level. We have the European Summit. The summit of the prime ministers of Polish prime minister will be delayed by the French presidency. So I would ask the Prime Ministers and presidents of the European Union to take this question on their agenda to discuss how we can overcome potentially food crisis not in the European Union, but in our neighbour who should be as well on top on the agenda.

SOUNDBITE (English), Norbert LINS, Chair of the EP Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, We need to have more military assistance for our Ukrainian friends. But on the other hand, food security and food security for our neighbourhood should be on the top of the agenda. And as well, when it comes to the G7 summit the week after, it should be a priority as well on that conference led by the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz.

SOUNDBITE (English), Norbert LINS, Chair of the EP Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, So our conclusion is that more coordination is needed, that more intervention is need, that we have to have, for example, insurance guarantee for stakeholders in the train sectors, for stakeholders in the truck sector when they enter the Polish Ukrainian border, that they do it not only on their own own costs.

SOUNDBITE (English), Norbert LINS, Chair of the EP Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, There has to be some guarantees and hopefully guaranteed by the European Union. Then one aspect, and this is my last word after the introduction, so I think the the mismatch for all the coordination we bear and we will ask you why it was not possible to to meet the Ukrainian delegation which came from Lemberg close to the border. And I hope we can clarify this in the upcoming days, so we will do a video conference with them to know better what was the reason behind that.

SOUNDBITE (English), Norbert LINS, Chair of the EP Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, So I will leave it with that and I will now give my colleagues MEPs, who were participating in that mission as well. So we decided to go with the coordinators or a representative of the different political groups. And we start with the EPP co-ordinator, Helbert Dorfman. So I would ask you to do it in two or 3 minutes, your summary of this mission.

SOUNDBITE (English), Herbert DORFMANN (EPP, IT), Thank you very much Chair and good morning to everybody. But I can be very brief because I think our chair more or less said what we lost our impression here. For me, it was a very interesting visit here. And I think fundamentally we saw two things. There is for sure the possibility to improve for the border: the technical things, also insurance of trucks going European trucks going into Ukraine.

SOUNDBITE (English), Herbert DORFMANN (EPP, IT), And the concept of the European Union on solidarity lines addresses this problem. But the problems of want to try a solution on this. I had the same impression us as Norbert Lins. This concept seems not to be that known here and it seem that there is not a big traffic of wheat or transiting of wheat here from Ukraine to Poland in this moment, but this can be improved.

SOUNDBITE (English), Herbert DORFMANN (EPP, IT), But I think for me, the most interesting thing was that our concept looks very much on what is happening on the border but is not looking what's happening after the border. And I think this is equally important because we have to take into account that import tariffs have been abolished. And it is clear that this, especially wheat and European Union is a net exporter of wheat. The next harvest in Europe is starting soon, that the European Union does not have a big interest to have this wheat for itself.

SOUNDBITE (English), Herbert DORFMANN (EPP, IT), But it needs to go where it's needed, so fundamentally, in Africa and we need to be sure of this because it cannot be that the suite of flows into the European market with a much lower price than the European or the Polish weat. And I think if we want to have a real step forward on the whole export question.

SOUNDBITE (English), Herbert DORFMANN (EPP, IT), We need to organise this. So we need to guarantee that this wheat is transiting the European Union and goes then to final destination, which is the big importing countries in Northern Africa, in Asia and so on and so forth.

SOUNDBITE (English), Herbert DORFMANN (EPP, IT), And so I think this is, at least for me, the most important knowledge I get from this visit: that this link is still missing and then this we have to emphasise. Thank you.

SOUNDBITE (English), Juozas OLEKAS, Dear colleagues, I think is very important for us. First of all, you should understand more or we'd like to understand more the practical situation on the ground. We all know that Putin's war against the Ukraine creates a lot of problems for Ukraine.

SOUNDBITE (English), Juozas OLEKAS, And one of the problems is the export of the food from Ukraine. Is also a problem not only for Ukraine but also for Africa countries. where this put as needed. Our goal here to get the real information and try to influence the European Commission and our national governments to support solve this problem.

SOUNDBITE (English), Juozas OLEKAS, And what we get from today's visit here, it was very informative and very important for us. And I see that we are really facing the problem of transit problem. We know that we have a lot of million tons in Ukraine, 18 maybe from last year, but we are facing for new harvest and this is also but we need to transfer to the African countries.

SOUNDBITE (English), Juozas OLEKAS, It's very important not to create the problems here on the borders with Ukraine particularly for the Polish farmers. But to transfer this the EU to Africa. And for that reason we hear that we need to solve some problems, some bureaucratic problems on the investigation, on the quality control, and also some infrastructure problems for the for the transit.

SOUNDBITE (English), Juozas OLEKAS, This, first of all, the wagons or trains that we can use and maybe we should be more flexible to use this wagons on the European Railways and maybe solve some problems through the European Commission and through the Polish government to found some kind of solution.

SOUNDBITE (English), Juozas OLEKAS, I am from the Lithuanian, you neighbour on the north and I know that the Lithuanian ports are ready to accepted the big amount of for Ukrainian grains. And for that reason we need more wagons or more trains from Ukrainian border to Lithuania at the port. For that, maybe we can agree to find a solution on how to improve the infrastructure between Sestokai and Trakizki.

SOUNDBITE (English), Juozas OLEKAS, This they have a quite problematic railway road and, for that reason, we maybe can use the support from the European Commission and also can use the military flexibility for Military Mobility Fund, because we are looking for the future Rail Baltic line here to improve and to support Ukraine more in this issue transferring the the grain and sunflower oil and other products from Ukraine.

SOUNDBITE (English), Juozas OLEKAS, I hope that our visit will support to to manage some of this problem. And together we can do more than each of us alone. Thank you very much.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ulrike MULLER (Renew, DE), Thank you to the ministry and all the administrations that are helping us to organise this trip here to the border between Poland and Ukraine. Thank you so much. All the people they have spoken with us and give us so many informations. It's true that we expect a long line of trucks loaded with grain and corn and so on.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ulrike MULLER (Renew, DE), Yes, it's true that the reality is different, but I think this is clear from our side that we have a lot of wishes now to bring to European level. First of all, they raised the issues that we have won border control. It is really interesting that there are drivers announced yesterday are the truck drivers on the border, that sometimes they are standing 8 hours on the Ukrainian side, 3 hours on Polish side.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ulrike MULLER (Renew, DE), So your improvement, more lanes, is working very well. I think this is good. Then they rise the issue from the insurance system, the high transport costs and the customers. So for me it's clear we have to bring all the stakeholders together. They are asking for a special working group.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ulrike MULLER (Renew, DE), I think this is something as well, but European can organise and for me it's really clear that we want to protect the Polish farmers and it is clear that the message that we want to help Ukrainians, but we want also to bring the grain and the wheat to Africa and to the transport and to transit to the final destination.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ulrike MULLER (Renew, DE), So I think, for me personally, the main issue would be that we organise or we discuss with the World Food Programme that buy the harvest in Ukraine and bring it to the third countries. This is the only way how we can proceed, but we can also help from European phones for the storage as well. But thank you so much for this really huge information, for this discussions, for this open words from your side. And we are working really hard on European level to find solutions.

SOUNDBITE (English), Tilly METS (Greens/EFA, FR), Thankyou to the authorities that organised this that we could have all these changes. Thank you also to the Ukrainian people that we had the chance to meet online today. So that was really very interesting. So let me just have a look, maybe three main points I take out here. First of all, we need a more holistic and controlled approach to tackle the issue of exports and imports, not only focussing on alternative export corridors, but also really hear what the Ukrainian people want. For example, like more doing processing in the country, looking more disposable despite the war.

SOUNDBITE (English), Tilly METS (Greens/EFA, FR), And also it was already mentioned by my colleagues. The problem if companies are now operating in Ukrainia, they have very, very high insurance costs. So that's what I mean. We have really to have a holistic approach. And it was also mentioned, look at the impact that has on Polish farmers, if we now have too much uncontrolled import of grains, etc.

SOUNDBITE (English), Tilly METS (Greens/EFA, FR), So I think that is also important that they really if they are designated to Poland, that we also give the possibility that there is a transit and therefore, and that brings me to my second point, we need to guarantee a better coordination and financial support to improve the logistics, to improve the infrastructure. Train infrastructure, of course, also guarantee better compatibility in the future, but also for storage and also the export out of the EU.

SOUNDBITE (English), Tilly METS (Greens/EFA, FR), Third point I wanted to mention here is, I know we have an emergency. We have to save the yields coming out of Ukraine. But, at the long term, I think this is really the occasion also to rethink our European agricultural system, that we need to have more local production, less dependency and also avoid not ecological long transport and a lot of chemical inputs which need, again, a lot of gas and you know, where it's coming from and a lot of energy.

SOUNDBITE (English), Tilly METS (Greens/EFA, FR), So it's also an occasion to rethink our agricultural European system while guaranteeing also help and support outside the EU, where it is not always possible due to climate change, but not only, to have the same yields of grains that we have in Europe. So that was it for me. Thank you.

SOUNDBITE (English), Veronika VRECIONOVA (ECR, CS), First of all, I would like to thank Poland or Polish authorities for help for Ukraine. It's really possible to see it everywhere and also for these possibilities that we can come and you help organise our visit of Ukraine-Poland border. My colleague talked here just know about a lot of problems we could see.

SOUNDBITE (English), Veronika VRECIONOVA (ECR, CS), But I would like just to tell that we, all of us, have to think about it as these problems are not done by Ukraine, by Poland, by European Union, but everything is done only by Russian aggressor in Ukraine, Putin. And the best way to find a solution is to end this awful war.

SOUNDBITE (English), Veronika VRECIONOVA (ECR, CS), So we are discussing very often in Agriculture Committee in Ukraine and with some other colleagues in the European Parliament, with people from Commission, with Mr. Commissioner, with our Polish businessmen and so on, all this problem. But to come here and to see the real problem, to have this possibility, to discuss with people who have to everyday to try to find a solution.

SOUNDBITE (English), Veronika VRECIONOVA (ECR, CS), It's really very useful for us and it brings us a lot of a lot of new information. And just now it's time for us to try to recognise which of these problems can be solved here in Poland, in Ukraine. But of course, there are a lot of issues which can be done by European Union and I think all of us have a long list of these problems and we will try to discuss it now in the European Parliament. Thank you very much.

SOUNDBITE (English), Norbert LINS, Chair of the EP Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, Thank you very much. And before I give the floor to Miss Violet, I would to let you know what are the next steps from our perspective. So I will propose to colleagues that we will write a letter to the responsible commissioners. What is our summary of these missions like we did in the past.

SOUNDBITE (English), Herbert DORFMANN (EPP, IT), So we will write a letter to Commissioners Dombrovskis, Valean and Wojciechowski, so these are the three responsible commissioners. What is our impression, what are our requests when it comes to our summary of this paper. And I hope, moreover, this will help to even improve the situation on the Polish Ukrainian border and this will help the Polish and the Ukrainian authority to overcome some challenges which are there. So thank you very much again. And I give you the floor.

SOUNDBITE (Polish), Ewa LENIART-PODKARPACKIE VOIVODE, Provincial governor representative of the Polish government, by the observatory