Temporary liberalisation of EU trade with Ukraine

Subject: Temporary liberalisation of EU trade with Ukraine

The EU’s decision to liberalise trade with Kyiv in June 2022 led to an influx of Ukrainian products into the EU market that pushed prices down, generating some concern, particularly in the countries closest to Ukraine, i.e. Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, Slovakia and Romania.

Once those countries’ unilateral decisions and objections – contrary to European rules – had been overcome, the EU agreed to maintain duty-free trade with Ukraine until June 2024.

The list of products has recently been extended to poultry, eggs and sugar. The Commission insists that trade is flowing well, but has also acknowledged that there are ‘some risks’ that such imports could lower prices and threaten local production.

1. Does the Commission intend to propose an extension of this liberalisation of trade with Ukraine?

2. How does the Commission intend to counteract the negative impacts of these imports on the EU’s internal market?

Submitted:15.1.2024

Answer given by Executive Vice-President Dombrovskis on behalf of the European Commission (24 April 2024)

The Commission has proposed a one-year extension of the Autonomous Trade Measures for Ukraine beyond the validity of Regulation (EU) 2023/1077 (1) that expires on 5 June 2024. These measures are a key part of the EU’s support for Ukraine as it defends itself against Russia’s illegal war of aggression.

This proposal supports the Ukrainian economy. However, compared to previous iterations, the proposed Autonomous Trade Measures Regulation contains a significantly strengthened safeguard mechanism that will help to protect EU farmers from adverse impacts caused by imports from Ukraine.

The new safeguard mechanism can be activated when Ukrainian imports cause adverse effects on the EU market or, which is new compared to the current version of the regulation, on the markets of individual Member States. Member States are also more involved in the decision-making process leading to an adoption of these safeguards.

Moreover, for sensitive products — poultry, eggs, sugar, oats, maize, groats and honey — an emergency brake is foreseen which will stabilise imports from Ukraine at the level of the average import volumes registered in the second half of 2021, in 2022 and in 2023.

The Commission is regularly closely monitoring the impact of this regulation, taking into account the information on exports, imports, prices on the EU market or the market of one or several Member States and EU production of the products subject to the trade-liberalisation measures.

It is also worth to recall, that the Commission in 2023 supported farmers in the five Member States neighbouring Ukraine most affected by the increased imports of cereals and oilseeds from Ukraine with EUR 156.3 million via two emergency support measures (2).

1 ∙ ⸱ Regulation (EU) 2023/1077 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 May 2023 on temporary trade-liberalisation measures supplementing trade

concessions applicable to Ukrainian products under the Association Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community and their Member States, of the one part, and Ukraine, of the other part. OJ L 144, 5.6.2023, p. 1-6, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/1077 2 ∙ ⸱ Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/739, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2023/739, Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/1343, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32023R1343