As announced (see EUROPE 12347/7), the European Parliament's Committee on Agriculture adopted (34 votes in favour, 9 against and 2 abstentions), on Tuesday 5 November, a favourable opinion on the draft agreement between the EU and Ukraine amending the trade preferences for poultry meat and poultry meat products provided for in the Association Agreement between the Parties (see EUROPE 12215/30).
Parliament's Committee on International Trade is expected to give its opinion on the agreement on 7 November. The negotiated solution between the EU and Ukraine is to increase the existing quota for poultry meat and poultry meat products by an additional 50,000 tonnes, including the 'other cuts' tariff lines, within the scope of the existing tariff rate quota, and reinstating the Most Favoured Nation duty rate of 100.8 euros/100 kg/net for imports under the two 'other cuts' tariff lines concerned in excess of the volume of the tariff rate quota (see EUROPE 12273/15).
The objective of this agreement is to stop potential unlimited duty-free poultry imports, which could undermine the conditions under which traditional poultry breast cuts may be imported into the Union, explains the rapporteur for the opinion, Zbigniew Kuźmiuk (ECR, Poland). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)