Duty-free trade with Ukraine. There is a compromise

Today, ambassadors of countries to the European Union debated the future of the duty-free trade agreement with Ukraine. A group of countries neighboring Ukraine, as well as France, demanded that data from 2021 be taken into account when calculating the amount of duty-free quotas. At that time, trade between the European Union and Ukraine was relatively low and would therefore have reduced the volume exempt from fees. Meanwhile, the original proposal assumed that to calculate the volumes exempt from customs duties, the average from the last two years would be taken into account, when EU trade with Ukraine was already relatively high.

Compromise on duty-free trade with Ukraine

However, the ambassadors managed to reach an agreement, as announced by the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU on Wednesday evening. – EU ambassadors agreed to a new compromise on the extension of autonomous trade measures (ATMs) for Ukraine, ensuring a balanced approach between support for Ukraine and protection of EU agricultural markets – The Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU announced on the X platform (formerly Twitter).

As RMF FM's Brussels correspondent Katarzyna Szymańska-Borginon emphasizes, 2021 has been included, but only from June. Mid-2021 is a compromise and means a reduction in imports from Ukraine.

Negotiations of changes to the agreement became possible thanks to the amendment of PO MEP Andrzej Halicki adopted by the European Parliament during the plenary session. Without this amendment, the original proposal would apply.

The agreement will now go to the European Parliament for approval.