Many EU countries and farmers have become dependent on cheap Russian fertilizer imports - Vaidere

RIGA - Many European Union (EU) countries and farmers have become dependent on imports of cheap Russian fertilizers produced from cheap Russian gas, stressed European Parliament Member (MEP) Inese Vaidere (New Unity).

The MEP's office informed LETA that the EP Committee on International Trade voted overwhelmingly in favor of Vaidere's report on a regulation on new tariffs on products from Russia and Belarus. The legislation adopted by the Committee provides for a phasing-out of imports of fertilizers and all agricultural products from Russia.

According to Vaidere, it is unacceptable that, three years after the start of Russia's full-scale war, some EU countries are still buying Russian products in large quantities, thus financing the Russian war machine.

The new rules would impose import tariffs on agricultural products and fertilizers from Russia and Belarus. The MEP notes that the EU imported EUR 1.5 billion worth of fertilizers from Russia last year, and that this amount has even increased. She points out that, by continuing this trade, the EU is continuing to finance Russian dictator Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine.

By increasing tariffs on food products produced in Russia and Belarus, European producers will benefit as there will be less competition for their products, she explained. The fertilizer industry, on the other hand, will have the opportunity to develop its production in Europe, which has sometimes even been forced to shut down as a result of cheap Russian imports.

She pointed out that the new rules align the interests of both European fertilizer producers and farmers. The tariffs will be applied gradually over three years. This will allow farmers to adapt and fertilizer markets to stabilize.

The MEP stressed that many European farmers have been using cheap Russian products, thus creating unfair competition, as several countries - Latvia, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Sweden - had refused to import the aggressor's products already at the beginning of the war.