An agreement designed to further liberalise trade between the EU and Kyiv came into force on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Adopted on 13 October, it will replace the deal in place since 2016, by expanding tariff-free access for Ukrainian goods and services.<\/p>\n
However the new agreement has become a political headache for the European Commission, as Hungary, Poland and Slovakia are not lifting bans on Ukrainian agricultural imports.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are engaging with all the parties to try to find solutions,\u201d Commission deputy chief spokesperson Ariana Podesta said on Tuesday. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe (the agreement) is a stable, fair framework, that can be reliable both for the EU and for Ukraine, to ensure a gradual integration in our single market, while providing stable trade flows,” Podesta added.<\/p>\n
The new deal includes safeguards limiting imports of certain sensitive products such as grains and oil. Nevertheless, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia have refused to lift their national bans on Ukrainian agri-food imports.<\/p>\n
These restrictions were first introduced after the EU opened its market completely to Ukrainian agricultural products following Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, as the Black Sea \u2014 a vital export corridor for Kyiv \u2014 was effectively blocked.<\/p>\n
The resulting land corridors into the EU, designed to keep Ukrainian exports flowing, sparked anger among farmers in neighbouring countries who accused Brussels of allowing unfair competition.<\/p>\n
Politically charged<\/strong><\/p>\n The issue became politically charged, weighing on Poland\u2019s 2023 general election and fuelling tensions in Slovakia and Hungary.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter the war, imports of agriculture to the EU doubled. We have 117% increase compared to the pre-war levels,\u201d Tinatin Akhvlediani, an expert at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), told Euronews. <\/p>\n However, Akhvlediani added that \u201cit has been unnecessarily politicised because these Ukrainian goods were easily absorbed by the neighbouring countries.\u201d<\/p>\n Ukraine\u2019s main agricultural exports \u2014 grain, sugar and oil \u2014 are largely unprocessed goods.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is complementary with the trading of the EU because it mostly exports processed agricultural goods,\u201d Akhvlediani explained. <\/p>\n \u201cUkrainian goods in fact are highly demanded in the EU market. That explains why Ukraine is the third largest import partner for the European Union after Brazil and the UK.\u201d<\/p>\n The new trade deal includes a \u201csafeguard clause\u201d allowing either side to impose protective measures if surging imports damage domestic industries.<\/p>\n Yet this has not eased concerns in neighbouring countries.<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough Brussels wants to give farmers\u2019 money to Ukraine, we are protecting the resources, the livelihoods of Hungarian producers and our market,\u201d Hungarian Agriculture Minister Istv\u00e1n Nagy wrote on Facebook on Monday, as he and his EU peers met in Brussels.<\/p>\n The ongoing dispute illustrates the broader obstacles facing Ukraine\u2019s path to EU membership.<\/p>\n Within the bloc, some are concerned about how Ukraine\u2019s enormous agricultural capacity \u2014 42 million hectares of cultivated land, the largest in Europe \u2014 would affect the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which distributes funds based on farm size.<\/p>\n Even if CAP payments were reformed to focus on production rather than land area, \u201cUkraine remains quite competitive,\u201d Akhvlediani said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe solution could be that the EU puts transition measures in the accession treaty which would limit the benefit from certain policies or not benefit from them at all. This could be the case for the CAP. It\u2019s completely up to the EU,” she concluded.<\/p>\n Romanian President Nicu\u0219or Dan, whose country also borders Ukraine, is one of the rare EU leaders to have spoken openly about the issue, saying the discussion about agriculture is \u201cpending\u201d.<\/p>\n According to the Romanian president, the risks of imbalances for the EU are \u201csignificant\u201d, especially since Ukraine “does not currently meet the standards that we impose on the agricultural sector in the EU.”<\/p>\n “The discussions taking place are that, in terms of agriculture, Ukraine should have a special status so that it can continue to make significant exports to non-European countries while, in all other clusters, it should be treated as an equal,” Dan said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An agreement designed to further liberalise trade between the EU and Kyiv came into force on Wednesday. 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