The EU has prepared restrictions for extending duty-free imports from Ukraine

The European Parliament (EP) and the Council of the EU have reached a preliminary agreement on extending duty-free import of Ukrainian agricultural products until June 5, 2025. The agreement also provides for restrictions on the volume of imported products, as follows from the document on the EP website.

EU countries approved the parameters of the agreement on March 20. it included a one-year waiver of tariffs and the possibility of emergency termination of tariff waivers on “the most sensitive products,” including chicken, eggs , SUGAR , oats, corn, all types of cereals and honey. At the same time, as BLOOMBERG wrote , France , Poland and Hungary advocated more stringent restrictions.

The new EP document provides that until June 5, the import of Ukrainian agricultural products into the territory of the European Union will not be subject to duties. An emergency lifting of the suspension of the duty-free regime will take effect if the volumes of Ukrainian products exceed the average for the period from the second half of 2021 to 2023. In addition, the commission will strengthen monitoring of grain imports, in particular wheat.

“Under this new agreement with the council, we have strengthened guarantees to protect European farmers in the event of market turbulence caused by Ukrainian imports. By extending trade support measures for another year, this agreement also demonstrates the EU’s unwavering solidarity and support for Ukraine,” said MEP Sandra Kalniete.

The abolition of duties may be finally approved at a planning meeting of the European Union in the second half of April, the statement says.

The decision to suspend duties and quotas on the import of goods from Ukraine was introduced in 2022. At the end of January, the European Commission made a proposal to extend it for another year. Farmers from EU countries bordering Ukraine opposed it. Thus, in Poland, local farmers began to block checkpoints on the Polish-Ukrainian border. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk previously did not rule out the “complete closure of borders with Ukraine” to protect his own market. Brussels called on Kyiv to redirect imports of agricultural products to other countries.

Vice-President of the Ukrainian Association of International Road Carriers Vladimir Balin said at the end of December that the damage to the country's economy as a result of blocking checkpoints on the border with Poland amounts to €1 billion. President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky called the situation beyond the boundaries of economics and morality and called for a solution to be found.