Ukraine hopes controls will finish neighbours’ import bans
1 February 2024
3 minute learn
The European Fee on Wednesday proposed measures to restrict agricultural imports from Ukraine and supply larger flexibility on guidelines for fallow land in a bid to quell protests by indignant farmers in France and different EU members, reported Reuters.
The Fee stated it will lengthen the suspension of import duties on Ukrainian exports for an additional yr to June 2025. They had been initially suspended in 2022 to assist Ukraine’s economic system following the Russian invasion, which has hit shipments through the standard Black Sea route.
The Fee proposal, which would require approval from EU governments and the European Parliament, introduces an “emergency brake” for essentially the most delicate merchandise – poultry, eggs and sugar – permitting tariffs if imports exceed the common ranges of 2022 and 2023.
It additionally permits the Fee to impose measures if the markets of a number of EU members are disrupted by a surge of imports of different farm produce, equivalent to grains. In important circumstances, these may very well be in place 21 days after a request is made.
Ukraine’s EU neighbours – Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia – have complained that the farm imports have upset their markets, resulting in protests by farmers and truckers.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal welcomed the proposed extension and expressed hope that the controls would keep away from future conflicts.
“We additionally anticipate that the measures developed will take away dangerous unilateral bans on the import of our agricultural merchandise from Poland, Slovakia and Hungary,” he stated in a put up on Telegram messenger.
With polls pointing to good points by the far-right in European Parliament elections in June, French President Emmanuel Macron, additionally referred to as on Tuesday for clear measures on Ukrainian imports. French farmers have been protesting for greater than two weeks over rising prices and low-cost meals imports.
Arnaud Rousseau, head of France’s foremost farmers’ union FNSEA, stated the Fee was appearing “woefully” late, that controls had been required instantly and that the emergency brake limits needs to be set at 2022 ranges.
EU sugar imports from Ukraine rose 1,000% in 2023, whereas egg imports greater than doubled and poultry imports had been 50% increased.
Philippe Gelin, head of France’s largest poultry group LDC, additionally referred to as the reference dates, together with 2023, problematic.
French and Belgian farmers arrange dozens of blockades on highways and on entry roads to a container port on Wednesday, a day earlier than an EU summit.
The Fee additionally proposed exempting EU farmers for 2024 from a requirement to maintain a minimal share of their land fallow whereas nonetheless receiving EU farm assist funds.
Farmers may as a substitute develop nitrogen-fixing crops equivalent to lentils or peas or catch crops that develop between plantings of a foremost crop, with out making use of plant safety merchandise.
The Fee has additionally proposed to resume for a yr the obligation suspension for imports from Moldova till July 2025.
