The Permanent Representatives of the Member States to the EU (Coreper) were due to decide on the extension of the autonomous trade liberalisation measures with Ukraine on Wednesday 26 April, but postponed the decision until Friday 28 April. Last year, the European Commission proposed to suspend tariffs on imports from Ukraine for one year (see EUROPE 12949/3), and then proposed to extend them until June 2024 (see EUROPE 13128/4).
While the Commission had hoped for a quick adoption of the text, the accumulation of certain Ukrainian agricultural products in Poland, Hungary and Slovakia has slowed down the procedure. These three countries imposed unilateral measures to block Ukrainian imports to relieve their farmers, who were facing falling prices due to the stockpiling of Ukrainian food on their soil (see EUROPE 13163/17).
The Permanent Representatives were called upon by the European Commission to adopt the proposal on the extension of the autonomous measures without amendments. Most Member States are in favour of this, but have preferred to wait for further discussions to take place in parallel between the Commission, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Romania. Consequently the Member States are trying to find a common solution to relieve farmers in these countries (see EUROPE 12165/1, 12169/1).
In the European Parliament, the Committee on International Trade (INTA) will vote on the extension of the autonomous measures on Thursday 27 April. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)