Poland and Hungary could come to regret their Ukraine grain ban

The row over Ukrainian grain imports shows that politicians in Eastern Europe can be their own worst enemies. Five Eastern European countries – Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia, led by Poland and Hungary – failed to convince other EU member states that the existing ban on imports of grain from Ukraine, imposed earlier this year, should be extended beyond 15 September. As a result, at least three of them – Poland, Hungary and Slovakia – will now adopt their own restrictions, in defiance of the EU.

What is all too clear is that the countries seeking a ban, particularly Poland, have elevated short-term political considerations above their own long-term interest in Ukraine. Their push for an EU policy that would actively harm Ukraine at the worst possible moment, and a unilateral pursuit of the same plan, bodes ill for the idea that Europe’s centre of political gravity is finally shifting to the east.