The Ukrainian agricultural producers, represented by UCAB in Brussels, took note of the announcement by the European Commission of the completion of negotiations with Ukraine on a new, longer term trade arrangement covering trade in agrifood products, to replace the expired EU autonomous trade measures.

While the precise scope is yet to be approved by the Member States and disclosed by the parties, one thing is clear: it is very likely that the new arrangement will still mean net losses for the Ukrainian agrifood producers, whose sales to Europe continue to form a major share of export revenues for the economy of a country at war - a country that continues to resist aggression, where economic resilience is critical, and any trade restrictions compared to previous years risk weakening the nation as a whole. The best possible outcome would have been the transposition of the ATMs regime with safeguards applicable for a limited range of products deemed sensitive to the EU farmers. Yet, we appreciate the incredible effort undertaken by the Ukrainian negotiating team to make sure that the interests of the Ukrainian farmers are defended to the fullest extent possible under the current circumstances.

In addition, we are astonished at the Commission demand for Ukraine’s accelerated and full alignment with the EU acquis on agricultural production standards, i.e. plant health and animal welfare, which will not be rewarded by full access to the EU internal Market, is it would have been under the logic of pre-accession negotiations. It sends a long-term negative signal not only to the Ukrainian agriproducers, but also to farmers in other EU candidate countries.

The UCAB is also concerned with the extent of safeguard clauses which would be applied on top to the agreed quotas. It is crucial that the safeguards are not determined in a politically arbitrary manner, but are preceded by the regular impact assessment and a proper safeguard investigation in strict accordance with the EU law on trade safeguards, where the views of all stakeholders are taken into account.

Last but not least, it remains to be seen what specific instruments the Commission will offer to Ukraine to facilitate its return to its traditional third country markets, given the continuing difficulties with logistics along the Black Sea route as well as state-backed dominance of the Russian grain in the regions in focus of the Ukrainian exporters.