Member states push for further safeguards against Ukrainian imports

With little time left before the expiration of wartime trade benefits granted to Kyiv, and despite the compromise deal reached with the European Parliament last week, EU countries agreed to reopen negotiations to enhance safeguards against market distortions. 

EU ambassadors agreed on Wednesday (27 March) to reopen negotiations with the European Parliament on a further extension of liberalisation measures with Ukraine until June 2025, after several member states opposed a deal reached with Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) last week. 

The so-called Autonomous Trade Measures (ATMs), originally introduced in 2022 after the Russian invasion and due to expire in June, aim to facilitate Ukrainian agricultural exports to the EU by removing all remaining tariffs and trade barriers. 

However, farmers –especially in neighbouring countries such as Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia– have raised concerns about cheaper Ukrainian agricultural products “flooding” the EU market. 

EU negotiators at the Council and the Parliament had agreed on 20 March to extend the list of imported products considered ‘sensitive’ – including poultry, eggs, sugar, oats, maize, groats, and honey – and to trigger automatic safeguard measures if import volumes rise above the 2022-23 average. 

But a coalition of EU countries, led by France and Poland, deemed those safeguards insufficient to protect EU farmers, from the influx of Ukrainian agricultural products, succeeding in pushing for additional provisions.

The Council’s position now extends the reference period to pre-war levels, the second semester of 2021 – when Ukrainian exports to the EU were lower.

According to diplomatic sources, the compromise is the last possible mediation.

A blocking minority

Speaking to journalists at the EU Council on Tuesday, French Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau confirmed a ‘blocking minority’ of countries were seeking to enhance safeguards to protect the EU’s agricultural sector. 

Poland has been the most vocal in the debate on ATMs, with tensions rising between Kyiv and Warsaw many times because of Polish farmers’ blockades, on the border.

The Polish Agriculture Minister Czesław Siekiersk said that Poland and other frontline countries had been “the first to pay” for the impact of trade liberalisation with Ukraine, adding that Warsaw would maintain its opposition to the compromise agreement. 

Asked whether strengthened safeguards would lead Poland to lift the unilateral ban on Ukrainian agricultural imports imposed in September 2023 – still in force – Siekierski said that talks with Kyiv were still ongoing. 

The European Commission has repeatedly urged Poland to lift the ban, pointing to a breach of EU trade rules. Unilateral import restrictions are also in place in Hungary and Slovakia.

Next steps

The EU is under time pressure to seal an agreement before the end of the legislature, which in practice expires at the end of April, after the last Parliament plenary session. 

The proposal will now go back to the International Trade Committee, which leads the work on the file in the Parliament, and is set to be discussed during the last meeting of the current term, on 9 April. 

If MEPs in the committee agree to the revised measures, the trade benefits will be voted on in plenary and, then, rubber-stamped by the EU Council. 

However, if the new ATMs are not approved before the current scheme lapses in June, the EU could return to the pre-war trade framework with Ukraine, the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA), reinstating import quotas and duties.

[Edited by Angelo Di Mambro and Rajnish Singh

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