The unconditional support that Europeans say they give to Ukraine has been met with the anger of farmers and it will not emerge unscathed. On Wednesday March 27, the Twenty-Seven agreed, after long negotiations, to restrict imports of Ukrainian agricultural products which, since June 2022, can access the internal market without customs duties; they have increased significantly. They also noted that this preferential regime would not be extended beyond June 2025.
For poultry, eggs, sugar, oats, corn, groats and honey, taxes will be reinstated if imported volumes exceed the average level observed between 1er July 2021 and December 31, 2023. In total, this should represent a shortfall for Ukraine of around 330 million euros per year. For the rest, and in particular cereals, a “reinforced commitment” of the European Commission to activate safeguard measures in the event of significant market disruptions.
The compromise, which was drawn up by the ambassadors of the Member States to the European Union (EU), must still be formally validated by the capitals and by the European Parliament. Which, given the highly political nature of the issue, is not necessarily a given.
France, in particular, which wishes, like Ukraine’s neighbors – Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania – an emergency brake for soft wheat and barley as well as a reference period which takes into account the whole of 2021, does not admit defeat. Less than three months before the European elections, which could see a surge from the far right, she is banking on the European Parliament to toughen the text agreed on Tuesday.
MEPs from the Trade Committee who took part in the negotiation on imports of Ukrainian agricultural products are defending a text which is not very far from that which was adopted on Tuesday by the representatives of the Member States: it provides safeguards for the same seven products and a reference period (2022-2023) a little more favorable to Ukraine, which does not take into account the situation before the war.
Unfair competition
But, in view of previous votes in the Strasbourg Hemicycle, Paris, Warsaw and Budapest, judge that this position does not necessarily reflect that of the 705 elected representatives of Strasbourg and that it could therefore be amended. Suffice to say that French diplomats will be active in the coming days to try to convince MEPs.
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