Bulgaria asks the European Union to ban the import of eggs from Ukraine

Bulgaria will ask the European Union to ban the import of eggs from Ukraine.

This was reported by the Bulgarian publication “24 Chasa.”

According to the publication, on September 23, Bulgaria will appeal to the EU Council on Agriculture and Fisheries to stop the import of eggs from Ukraine.

According to the outlet, Bulgarian Minister of Agriculture and Food, Georgi Tahov, during a meeting with farmers, pointed out the market challenges faced by Bulgarian producers due to increased imports and the possibility of applying protective measures under the safeguard mechanism to limit free trade with Ukraine.

The Minister commented on complaints from producers regarding the increase in food imports, which, according to them, disrupts the competitive environment in the country. Tahov explained that this is indeed a problem because the imports are from third countries outside the EU.

“When the import of a specific type of product – vegetables, meat, eggs – reaches certain limits that the European Commission has previously outlined, we can activate a mechanism to ban their import. We are currently doing this in regard to eggs,” Minister Tahov explained, adding that eggs are already included in the list of products with higher duties, and the next step is to push for an outright ban during the upcoming EU Council meeting.

It is worth noting that in July, the European Union imposed tariffs on the import of Ukrainian eggs and sugar. This was explained by the fact that the annual import quotas for these products, similar to what happened earlier with oats, had been exhausted, after which the EU applies an “emergency brake.”

Prior to this, the EU agricultural lobby had been discussing the reinstatement of quotas and tariffs on Ukrainian agricultural products imported into Europe.