Moldovan Minister of Agriculture Vladimir Bolea (Moldovan government)

Moldovan Minister of Agriculture Vladimir Bolea considered that the European Union should support Moldova's farmers as they have been equally harmed by imports from Ukraine as other European grain producers.

On Friday, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia agreed with the European Commission's proposition to lift national restrictions on the Ukrainian import of grains and crops.

The European Commission pledged to provide 100 million euros ($109 million) of financial aid for these countries' farmers.

"Moldova should be introduced into this calculation formula, since the Moldovan farmers' situation is no different. I think, it is even more volatile as Moldova is not a EU member and does not have access to the subsidies the European farmers receive, they [the Moldovans] are even poorer," Bolea was quoted by Moldovan TVR TV channel as saying.

The Moldovan Minister said, "The decision on money allocation [to Moldova] should be made."

He said the EU can use various formulas in order to calculate the amount of potential aid for the Moldovan farmers who have sown the fields with wheat, corn, and sunflower.

Bolea said allocating such assistance by the EU is quite feasible.

On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had urged the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, to resolve the issue with restrictions against the import of Ukrainian products.

Last June, Ukraine was granted a temporary duty-free trade arrangement with the EU. The bloc additionally launched green corridors to facilitate the transit of Ukrainian grain to the world market.

However, the cheap grain from Ukraine ended up flooding EU markets instead, prompting outrage among local farmers.

On April 15, Poland and Hungary said they were banning imports of Ukrainian agricultural products until June 30, citing the need to protect domestic farmers from the uncontrolled influx of cheap grain from Ukraine.

Slovakia followed suit on April 17 and Bulgaria on April 19.