EU puts tougher restrictions on Ukraine farm imports

EU member states and the European Parliament on Monday agreed tougher restrictions on some Ukraine farm imports. The decision will be formalised on Tuesday.

The accord extends the duty-free access the bloc has given to Ukrainian agricultural goods since Russia's 2022 invasion, but puts caps on some products.

The EU Council said ina statement that the decision "reaffirms the EU's unwavering political and economic support for Ukraine," but it also reinforces "the protection of sensitive agricultural products" such poultry, eggs, sugar, oats, maize, groats and honey.

No cap was applied to wheat, which countries such as France and Poland had initially argued for.

The decision comes just months before elections of the European Parliament and lawmakers, especially conservatives and on the far-right, seem keen to show European farmers that they are in their corner.

Diplomats had previously said the caps would trim around €240 million from the amount Ukrainian farm products earn in the EU, compared with 2023.

Protesting low incomes

Ukraine says it supplies only around one percent of the EU's eggs and two percent of its poultry while making up for a deficit of sugar on the EU market.

The European Union has sought to maintain solidarity with Ukraine while listening to European farmers who have been protesting low incomes partly blamed on Ukrainian goods they say are undercutting their markets.

The extension of duty-free imports of Ukrainian agricultural products is to kick in before the current exemption period runs out on June 5.

The European Parliament issued a statement saying that if there was "significant disruption to the EU market or the markets of one or more EU countries due to Ukrainian imports, for instance wheat, the regulation ensures that the (European) Commission can take swift action and impose any measures it deems necessary".

The rapporteur for the accord, Sandra Kalniete of the centre-right PPE grouping, said it "fortified safeguards to protect EU farmers in case of market turbulence sparked by Ukrainian imports."

"The ripple effects of Russia's relentless targeting of Ukraine and its economy are being felt by EU farmers," she said in a statement.

The farmers' union grouping COPA-COGECA and five farming federations said in a statement that the deal did not go far enough.

(With newswires)