On Friday 28 April, the Committee of Member States’ representatives to the EU supported the proposal to extend the suspension of customs duties on imports of agricultural products from Ukraine until June 2024.
The current regulation on temporary trade liberalisation in addition to trade concessions for Ukrainian products entered into force on 4 June 2022 and will be in force until 5 June 2023 (see EUROPE 13170/24).
The adoption by the EU Council of the text proposed by the European Commission (without amendments) will take place in May, following the green light from the European Parliament scheduled for the 8-11 May plenary (see EUROPE 13171/20).
At the same time, the Commission reached an agreement on a package of measures for the five EU countries (Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria) that are facing difficulties due to the influx of Ukrainian agricultural products onto their soil:
- safeguard measures allowing a temporary ban on the import of certain Ukrainian products (wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seed) into these countries, but allowing their transit to other Member States and to third countries (see EUROPE 13165/1);
- another envelope of €100 million in EU funds (via the agricultural crisis reserve) to support farmers in these five countries (see EUROPE 13172/1). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)