Presidential candidate Victor Ponta vows to end Ukrainian grain exports via Romania if elected

If elected president, former Prime Minister Victor Ponta told Reuters he will ban the export of Ukrainian grain through the country's Black Sea ports to protect local farmers.

Bucharest plays a crucial role in Ukrainian exports amid Russia's threats to the Black Sea maritime trade, shipping around 29 million tones of Ukraine's produce.

"There has been a policy of favoring Ukrainian grain in terms of access to port facilities in recent years, at the detriment of Romanian grain, and Romanian farmers were greatly affected by it," Ponta said.

In 2024, Romanian farmers asked the government to advocate for import limits on Ukrainian agriculture products, protesting the economic impacts of a free trade agreement that have sparked worries about uneven competition and risks to domestic production.

Yet, the presidential candidate said that he would support other measures already in place to support Ukraine, including weapons transit and training for Ukrainian pilots.

He said that Romania can defend neighboring Moldova in case of a Russian attack but could not do so for Ukraine or any other country.

In light of President Donald Trump's U-turn in foreign policy, Ponta said that he backs "radical change" taking place in the U.S.

The re-run of Romania's presidential elections is set for May 8 after the scheduled vote in November was annulled due to allegations of Russian interference favoring far-right candidate Calin Georgescu.

He was barred from participating in the presidential election re-run.

Victor Ponta, 52, served as a Romanian prime minister between 2012-2015, representing the Social Democratic Party (PSD). He resigned after public outrage over a deadly nightclub fire.

An opinion poll conducted by polling institute Verifield showed that Ponta has a chance to enter the run-off facing far-right candidate George Simion.