Subsidies requested by Lithuanian politicians and Ukrainian farmers for the transport of grain through Klaipėda and other European ports are not being considered in Brussels, says Valdis Dombrovskis, European Commission Executive Vice-President and Trade Commissioner, currently on a visit to Lithuania.
However, the EC, according to him, is looking at ways to reduce the cost of transporting grain by addressing procedural or infrastructure problems.
“There is financing available for addressing specific bottlenecks in the functioning of solidarity lanes. So, from that point of view, there is some financing available. But we are currently not discussing subsidising the transport cost,” Dombrovskis said in an interview with BNS.
“Rather, we look at what can be done to bring down transport costs through targeted administrative or infrastructure improvements,” he added.
In July, Lithuania’s Foreign, Transport and Communications, and Agriculture Ministers sent a letter to EU officials, calling on the European Commission to strengthen Ukraine's alternative grain export route through the Baltic States.
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