News
20.03.2024
Ukrainian farmers welcome a compromise proposal on extending EU trade preferences to Ukraine
The Ukrainian farmers and agriproducers, members of UCAB welcome a compromise proposal on extending EU trade preferences for Ukraine, reached yesterday evening at the trialogue consultations and confirmed today at the European Parliament INTA Committee. It is high time for the Member States to heed the opinion of the European Parliament and accept the compromise proposal.
We are relieved that the most damaging elements put forward on the table in the course of the debate in the Parliament did not see the light of the day, particularly the conditions under which the automatic safeguard measures would be triggered. In this context, the inclusion of an additional range of products into the scope of the safeguards, while painful enough for our members, will not have a catastrophic effect for Ukrainian economy and our ability to defend ourselves against the russian aggression while offering additional guarantees to the interests of the European farmers.
The Ukrainian farmers also welcome a long overdue initiative by the Member States to impose import tariffs on imports of the Russian agricultural imports, thus further raising the costs for Russia for waging its war of aggression against Ukraine, while protecting European farmers from predatory dumping practices by the Russian agroindustrial complex on the EU market. We are looking forward to a definitive Commission proposal in this regard and its approval by the EU Council.
Next, it is very important that the European Commission, together with the Ukrainian government and the EU Member States concerned, continue careful monitoring of imports of the mentioned products in order to evaluate objectively their impact on the European market and hence the need for application of safeguards in the first place.
