The European Commissioner for Agriculture, Christoph Hansen, said that after reviewing the terms of trade, the European Union expects a decrease in the volume of imports of agricultural products from Ukraine starting in June. About this informs AFP.
According to Hansen, Brussels seeks to «find a new agreement» for trade relations with Ukraine even before June, when the current regime of partial liberalization ends.
«The discussions have to be fast. The European Union is ready to negotiate and it should happen in the coming weeks. The import quotas will not remain the same as they were during this temporary liberalization. So, indeed, there will be less imports.» — he explained.
The European Commissioner noted that part of the member states oppose the continuation of the current trade conditions, because they «caused problems, especially in some member states.» At the same time, the European Commission announced last week that it is preparing a new proposal regarding the format of trade relations with Ukraine after the end of the current mechanism on June 5, 2025.
We will remind you that after the start of a full-scale war in Ukraine in 2022, the EU completely abolished customs duties on Ukrainian goods as a show of support. However, later, farmers in some EU countries began to protest, pointing out the harm caused by cheaper Ukrainian imports. In response, the European Union in 2023, although it continued liberalization, introduced restrictions on a number of goods, including sugar, chicken, eggs and corn.
