The EU Council endorsed the Fee’s proposal on the renewal of commerce liberalisation with Ukraine with no adjustments, as MEPs from the Parliament’s agriculture committee as a substitute facet with farmers by pushing for extra safeguards.
Right this moment (Wednesday 21 February), EU ambassadors gave their nod to the measures.
“The proposal from the Fee was broadly supported, except the ‘frontline’ member states,” an EU diplomat informed Euractiv. The member states involved are Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia – probably the most affected by the influence of commodities imports.
Nevertheless, the diplomat mentioned, the safeguard measures launched by the Fee to restrict imports seen as disrupting the EU market have been seen as “a major enchancment”.
The EU government proposed a mechanism to stabilise imports within the sectors thought of most delicate – poultry, eggs and sugar – if inflows exceed the common ranges in 2022-23.
The proposal additionally consists of an emergency brake that might permit the Fee to impose “any measure which is critical” if Ukrainian imports of any product “adversely have an effect on” the bloc’s market.
The ambassadors accepted the measures and the mandate to barter with the European Parliament to have them mounted in laws.
Pushing for extra
The members of the Agriculture Committee (AGRI) on the European Parliament tabled 127 amendments, the important thing ones revolving round merchandise coated by the safeguard measures and their threshold. The MEPs will vote on Monday night.
A number of amendments are pushing to incorporate Ukrainian honey and cereals into the listing of delicate imports, others are extending the safeguard measures to all merchandise with the opportunity of utilizing a part of the €50 billion Ukraine Facility mechanism to buy and inventory meals destined for third international locations.
Because the Fee is proposing the exceeding of the common import ranges in 2022-23 as a set off for strengthened safeguard measures, amendments recommend together with within the calculation 2021, i.e. the pre-war commerce knowledge.
This goes in keeping with the calls for of six associations representing farmers: Copa and Cogeca, the poultry processors and merchants within the EU, the sugar producers, the maize producers, the beet growers, and the union of wholesalers of eggs poultry and sport.
Nevertheless, it’s not clear what number of of those proposals might be taken up by the European Parliament’s commerce committee (INTA), which is liable for the file, and can vote on March 7.
Japanese Europe not backing down
Japanese Europe is the hotspot of the protests, with Slovakian, Hungarian, Lithuanian, Latvian and Czech farmers coordinating with the Poles to take to the streets on Thursday (22 February).
Protests on the Polish-Ukrainian border escalated on Tuesday (20 February) with a near-total blockade, main Kyiv to name on the European Fee to take motion.
Up to now, a number of unilateral bans on Ukrainian merchandise stay in place in Slovakia, Hungary and Poland.
[Edited by Angelo Di Mambro/Nathalie Weatherald]
Learn extra with Euractiv
