Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UCAB) Statement on the Commission Ukraine 2026 Pre-accession Country Report and the Accession Negotiations Roadmap

The Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UCAB) takes note of the publication of the Commission’s Ukraine 2026 Country Report in the context of the 2026 Enlargement Policy package and the accompanying pre-accession roadmap.

The Report is an important political orientation point for the EU Member States who are ultimately holding the keys to unlocking progress in the EU pre-accession negotiations with Ukraine.

In this respect we are delighted that the Report and the Roadmap send out a clear and unequivocal conclusion that Ukraine has met the necessary conditions and that the Member States are urged to make every effort to open the outstanding clusters, in particular, cluster 5 (Resources, agriculture, and cohesion) by the end of 2026.

UCAB members recall that today the Ukrainian agricultural sector plays the role of a “backbone” of the Ukrainian economy, generating more than 15% of the country’s GDP and 56% of its foreign currency revenues from the goods exports. The EU market continues to be the principal outlet of the Ukrainian agrifood exports as access to alternative third-country markets is effectively shut due to deliberate targeting by Russia of the civilian shipping to and from Ukrainian Black Sea ports.

In this respect we strongly urge the European Commission and the Member States to open negotiations on Cluster 5 already this year. Doing that would provide the necessary political stimulus as well as greater transparency for reforms delivery and offer both Ukraine and the EU agricultural producers greater transparency and predictability regarding the conditions and timeline for the Ukrainian agricultural sector’s integration into the EU single market and the Common Agricultural Policy. This would also allow both sides to address sensitive issues related to Ukraine’s participation in the CAP at an early stage, taking into account the ongoing EU debate on its future reform.

In this respect UCAB recalls the consolidated position of the Ukrainian agricultural associations from March 2026 regarding the use of transition periods as a possible solution to Ukraine’s participation in the EU Internal Market and the CAP. Where the offer of full EU market access remains politically difficult for Ukraine’s sensitive categories of agricultural products, transitional periods should apply, whereby gradual compliance with the EU standards would allow to maintain competitive access to non-EU markets for Ukrainian agrifood products.

Merit-based progress in pre-accession negotiations on these chapters will also help the EU address the unresolved problem of unilateral national import bans by certain EU Member States on Ukrainian agrifood imports, which are in clear violation of the EU law, EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and send the wrong message to other EU trading partners around the world.

For questions and comments :

UCAB EU Office in Brussels

Nazar Bobitski, Email: bobitski@ucab.ua

Tel. +380.67.172.03.64 (WhatsApp)