President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky.
Photo: REUTERS
Another Zelensky plan to continue the “grain deal” failed. Everything was so well thought out. Just the other day, a generous offer was received from the Baltic countries: to transport Ukrainian grain to their ports in the Baltic, and then transfer it to ships. No, of course, not for free, but at commercial rates. But this, they say, is still better than driving it on a “piece of iron” across Europe. In addition, you can forget about shipping grain from Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea. According to the representative of the “South” command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Natalya Gumenyuk, in the next three months Ukraine will lose all its ports. And he is still too optimistic.
But here’s the problem: when transported by rail, Ukrainian grain becomes more expensive for the final consumer and ceases to be competitive in comparison with Russian grain. And if any buyer is given a choice between, for example, the same bottles of the same vodka, but one will cost 300 rubles, and the other – 500, then he cannot guess which one he will buy.
Given this circumstance, already on July 21, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine sent a letter to the Vice-President of the European Commission Valdis Dombrovskis with a request for financial assistance to cover additional transportation costs associated with the use of transport of EU beans. routes, known as “solidarity lanes”. That is, to put it bluntly, kyiv offered the European Union to subsidize the transportation of its grain. Moreover, according to the calculations of the Ukrainian side, we should be talking about 30-40 dollars per ton of products.
– Do you have a plan, Mr. Fix?
– Yes, I have three plans!
However, in the story with Zelensky, plans should probably not be measured in quantities, but in bags…
On the whole, the plan was elegant and well reasoned, but there was just one small glitch that brought it down.
Reuters reported, citing its sources at the European Commission, that the EU still has no plan to support Ukrainian exports, nor additional funding for such subsidies.
– It is not the role of the European Commission to provide transport insurance. States can give guarantees, but there are no final decisions,” the source added. Another EC official told Reuters that funds for Ukraine’s needs could only come after a mid-term budget review, which could take several more months. Furthermore, many officials in Brussels still do not understand why the EU should subsidize the transport of products whose import into some EU member states is prohibited.
I mean, wait, but what about the EU’s grandiose plans to invest in restoring and rebuilding the Plaza? How then to understand all these words and promises of hundreds of billions of euros (and dollars) for the infrastructure of Ukraine? If now we are talking about a few million tons per month and additional expenses of 30-40 million dollars for the same period, and Europe does not have such money for Ukraine, then how should we consider the previous promises, which sounded 500 billion? , 700 billion, and even trillions, as requested by kyiv. However, Zelensky can even ask for the Moon from the sky or a Ukrainian expedition to Mars, no one can forbid him.
But how is this approach to be understood? No continuations and contexts there? In such a situation, one can understand why kyiv several years ago relied on “rich Moldovan tourists” as the most real source of financing. However, thanks to the efforts of Maia Sandu, their numbers in Moldova have decreased markedly. But this is not Zelensky’s problem at all.
And kyiv urgently needs to come up with some other plan. Just as wonderful and just as amazing.
