The European Union has no plans, at least for now, to support the transit of Ukrainian grain through Lithuania, European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevičius said on Thursday.
“There is no financial support from the European Union here [...]. As of today, such support is not envisaged,” the Lithuanian commissioner told the Žinių Radijas radio station.
Deputy Agriculture Minister Vytenis Tomkus has said earlier that this week’s agreement among Vilnius, Warsaw, and Kyiv to move veterinary and sanitary controls of Ukrainian grain from the Ukrainian-Polish border to Klaipėda is only the first step in facilitating the export of such cargo through the Lithuanian seaport.
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According to Sinkevičius, another factor that complicates the issue of Ukrainian grain shipments via Lithuania is that investments in the export infrastructure for that cargo have already been made at the Romanian port of Constanta.
“Transport through Lithuania is currently complicated, especially since 150 million euros have been invested in the development of the Constanta port and the possibilities for transporting grain because it is a very specific commodity that requires special wagons and special ships. In this case, logistics are already guaranteed in the southern direction,” he said.
Klaipėda Port CEO Algis Latakas has mentioned that the port could handle more than 10 million tons of grain, but the biggest challenge remains transporting it to Klaipėda.
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