Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk has spoken out in favour of a pan-European solution in the debate over a possible ban on grain imports from Russia and Belarus.
"I am convinced that a joint European decision will be much more effective than decisions by individual countries," he told the BNS agency during a visit to Lithuania on Monday.
"I want us as the EU to decide together on sanctions against Russian and Belarusian agricultural products."
Tusk believes stricter sanctions are not only important in view of the Russian war against Ukraine, but also to protect the agricultural markets of Poland, Lithuania and Europe as a whole.
"These markets are under great pressure due to the war, and one of the main tasks is undoubtedly to block the possibility of exports from Russia and Belarus to third countries," he said after a meeting with his Lithuanian counterpart Ingrida Simonyte.
Latvia recently became the first EU country to impose an import ban on grain and other agricultural and animal feed products from Russia and Belarus.
There have been calls for similar measures to be adopted in Lithuania, especially from protesting farmers, and the Ministry of Agriculture in Vilnius has announced its own controls on grain imports.
