This Does Not Sound Good

So, in violation of EU rules, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia have banned the import of Ukrainian grain.

Basically, their governments are pandering to their farmers, who are undercut by cheap grain from the Ukraine.

Imposing a unilateral ban appears to be a contravention of the European Union rules, so how this sorts out should be interesting:

Poland, Hungary and Slovakia said they would impose their own bans on Ukrainian grain following the European Commission's decision to let its restrictive measure end.

Brussels announced on Friday that it would not extend a ban on Ukrainian grain imports that applied to Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria. That measure expired Friday.

Imports of Ukrainian grain, including wheat and maize, were blocked from the territory of these five countries under an agreement reached with Brussels earlier this year. Only transit to other destinations was allowed.

………

"We have to prevent excessive pressure on the Slovak market in order to remain fair to our farmers as well. At the same time, our step is a reaction to the similar procedure of Poland and Hungary," [Slovak Prime Minister Ľudovít] Ódor said.

What's more, this seems to be spreading:

………

Romanian farmers on Saturday asked the government in Bucharest to also unilaterally ban the import of Ukrainian grain and other food products, Reuters reported. "We don't understand why Romania would be reserved about doing the same" as Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, the farmers' association said in a statement.

The Romanian government said it would wait for Kyiv to present its plan to prevent market distortions on Monday before deciding how to protect Romanian farmers, according to the Reuters report.

There are tensions in Europe, and it could be argued that the conflict in the Ukraine follows the once in a century wars that seem to re-align europe.  (WWI (1914-1918), the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815), the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1713 ), the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), the Russo-Swedish War (1495-1497), etc.

The last two are kind of arbitrary, there are a f%$# tonne of wars to choose from during that era.

Still, the point stands.  Europe in 20 years will be a very different place.