News
13.05.2024
Ukrainian farmers welcome the final adoption of the ATMs rollover by the EU Council
The decision by the EU Council taken today, on May 13, to extend the EU autonomous trade measures (ATMs) for Ukraine marks the end of a difficult process, which has seen many pitfalls and disappointments for the Ukrainian farmers and agriproducers.
Our hopes for strong and unequivocal economic support by the Europeans of Ukraine’s key export sector had a reality check of the short-term economic interests of the European agricultural groups. As a result, the Ukrainian economy will not receive at least 300 million EUR of export revenues this year. The Ukrainian imports of sugar, poultry, eggs, and cereals preparations will not benefit the European processors and consumers, reining in inflation while preserving EU quality and safety standards.
However, the Ukrainian agricultural sector welcomes a strong political will by the overwhelming majority of the EU Member States to continue supporting Ukraine economically in the face of the Russian onslaught. We also hope that the extension of the preferences from June 5 for another 12 months will also pave the way toward a constructive dialogue between Ukraine and the EU about how to establish a longer-term, enhanced bilateral trade regime which would be applicable until the time Ukraine joins the EU.
The Ukrainian farmers look forward to this dialogue and are ready to contribute with analytical input highlighting their needs, expectations and views on how EU-Ukraine agrifood trade can benefit the EU processing industries, European consumers and the overall EU global competitive position.
