European Union ambassadors have reached an agreement to extend tariff-free food imports from Ukraine with a “balanced approach between supporting Ukraine and protecting EU agricultural markets,” Belgian authorities, which currently holds the EU presidency, said. The agreement will now be sent to the European Parliament for approval with a view to “rapid agreement,” Brussels said.
The EU reached a preliminary agreement on the issue last week, but France and Poland said the planned restrictions did not go far enough and pushed for more restrictions to prevent what they called destabilization of European agricultural markets.
A diplomat familiar with the contents of the new agreement said it is similar to last week’s text but changes the reference period used to determine when tariffs will be imposed on some food products.
The original agreement stated that tariffs would be imposed on imports of poultry, eggs, sugar, oats, corn, cereals and honey if import volumes exceeded the 2022 and 2023 averages.
The new compromise extends the original period to include the second semester of 2021, the diplomat added. According to him, “nothing new has been added to the list of products that will be subject to the new rule.”
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2024-03-31 09:19:19