Radosław Fogiel made the statement in an interview with Polish state news agency PAP on Monday.
He argued that Poland’s embargo on agro-food products from Ukraine would not “open a new front” in relations with Brussels, the PAP news agency reported.
Fogiel, who heads the Polish lower house's Foreign Affairs Committee, said: “These measures haven’t been taken against anyone, and certainly, let me make this clear, not against Ukraine.”
He added: “Ukraine has our support and we realise how important it is that Kyiv wins the war. But there are measures that every responsible government must take to protect its producers, its farmers and its market.”
Fogiel said in the interview that EU law permitted member countries to impose an embargo on grain and farm products “in several situations,” including “for security reasons.”
He added that he hoped the Polish ban on agro-food products from Ukraine would "prompt the European Commission to stand up for the interests of member countries” such as Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.
Fogiel told the PAP news agency: “My hope is that the European Commission understands the situation and won’t use it to wage war against member countries, but instead ... support member states.”
Poland, Hungary, Slovakia halt grain imports from Ukraine
Poland and Hungary announced bans on some imports from Ukraine on Saturday to protect their markets from an influx of supply, according to news reports.
Polish government spokesman Piotr Müller said on Sunday that "the decision to ban imports, including transit, of agri-food products from Ukraine has been taken due to the lack of other ways to ensure food security and stabilise the situation on the market."
Slovakia on Monday banned the import of grain and other farm products from Ukraine, following in the footsteps of Poland and Hungary, but will keep allowing transit to third countries, according to news outlets.
Some Black Sea ports were blocked after Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine in February last year and large quantities of Ukrainian grain--which is cheaper than that produced in the EU--ended up staying in Central European countries due to logistical bottlenecks, the Reuters news agency reported.
According to local farmers, this has lowered prices and reduced their sales, and so governments have asked the EU to act.
At the end of last month, Poland and four other EU countries sent a joint letter to the European Commission, demanding restrictions on Ukrainian grain imports.
A senior EU official said EU envoys were due to discuss Poland and Hungary's bans this week, according to Reuters.
On Sunday, the bloc's executive said that unilateral action was unacceptable.
The EU official said there was an issue as low global prices and demand meant grain was staying in the bloc rather than being sold on, the Reuters news agency reported.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian and Polish officials were holding talks as Kyiv aimed to reopen food and grain transit through Poland as "a first step" to ending import embargoes, according to news outlets.
Monday is day 418 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, Reuters, dziennik.pl