The European Parliament’s approval of the one-year extension of trade liberalisation with Ukraine should not be a problem. MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade (INTA) had a rather positive first exchange on this issue on Tuesday 21 March. The European Commission had published its proposal on 23 February (see EUROPE 13128/4).
Sandra Kalniete (EPP, Latvian), rapporteur on the text, even hopes to see her report adopted without amendments. The various groups were in favour of the Commission’s proposal, despite some concerns raised by MEPs from Eastern European countries.
They are concerned about the large influx of Ukrainian agricultural products such as poultry and eggs into their country. Several Member States bordering Ukraine have in fact reported an increase in such imports since the introduction of autonomous measures in June 2022.
This is why the Commission has provided for a “more effective and faster” safeguard mechanism, reacted Marco Düerkop, coordinator for Ukraine at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Trade.
The Commission’s proposal provides for more regular monitoring of imports from Ukraine, in order to be able to react quickly, potentially launch a safeguard investigation and take action if necessary.
Some MEPs, including the Chair of the INTA Committee, Bernd Lange (S&D, German), questioned the relevance of the safeguard measures, which will still take several months to put in place. “Has the Commission planned anything to support the sectors affected by the massive influx of imports?”, added the Polish socialist Marek Belka.
The proposed regulation makes no such provision, Mr Düerkop replied, as these would be tools other than trade policy.
MEPs have until 24 March to table their amendments, if they have any, but the Chair of the INTA committee recalled that the recommendation was not to table any. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)