Ukraine may lose 86 million euros due to a trade compromise with the EU

The EU Council updated the draft agreement, which provides for the extension of duty-free trade with Ukraine.

During the closed discussions, the EU ambassadors agreed to include not only 2022/2023, but also the second half of 2021 in the base period, by which the volume of supplies of Ukrainian agricultural products will be determined. Earlier, Poland and France insisted on these demands, Radio Svoboda writes.

According to the estimates of the European Commission, in case of final adoption of this decision, Ukraine will lose 86 million euros. The previous draft of the agreement provided that the quotas for the next period, which will begin in June, will be calculated based on the volume of Ukrainian agricultural imports for the years 2022-2023, when benefits were already in effect for it – the absence of duties and quotas.

In general, the restrictions, which will be based on import estimates for the half of 2021, 2022 and 2023, were estimated at 331 million euros of losses for the Ukrainian budget. Poland and France supported the updated version of the agreement, enlisting the support of Italy, Hungary and Austria. In particular, Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Finland and the Baltic countries oppose the amendments.

We would like to remind you that on June 5, the deadline for trade liberalization between Ukraine and the EU expires. There are ongoing discussions about their continuation. The Council of the EU and the European Parliament have previously agreed to do this on the condition that the European Commission “extremely inhibits” the import of particularly sensitive categories of agricultural products.

We are talking about poultry meat, eggs, sugar, oats, corn, cereals and honey. If imports of these products exceed the average volumes of the base period, the tariffs may be reimposed.

The decision still needs to be approved by the European Parliament. Its last plenary session before the renewal of the composition of the EU legislature is scheduled for April.

Instead, as USM wrote, Great Britain continued duty-free trade with Ukraine until 2029.

Read also: Ukraine seeks free trade with the EU on a competitive market basis