Ukraine and Slovakia agreed to lift Slovakia’s import ban on Ukrainian cereals on Thursday 21 September. Kyiv is due to introduce an export control system, after which Slovakia will lift its import ban on four types of Ukrainian products (wheat, maize, sunflower seeds and oil) by the end of the year.
It is also understood that Kyiv will terminate the dispute settlement procedure it has initiated against Bratislava at the World Trade Organization (WTO).
When the WTO referral was announced on Monday 18 September, Ukraine said it hoped to reach an agreement with Hungary, Poland and Slovakia and not have to go to the end of the arbitration procedure (see EUROPE 13253/17).
As for Ukraine and Poland, they have in turn decided to negotiate an amicable solution on cereal exports. Negotiations should take place in the next few days, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Agriculture.
This is a sign of appeasement between the two countries, at a time when Ukraine has launched a WTO dispute settlement procedure and Poland threatened on Wednesday 20 September to extend the restrictions to other Ukrainian products.
For several days now, the European Commission has been calling for dialogue to find an alternative solution to the unilateral measures taken by the three Member States.
If this is not the case, “the Commission reserves its rights, if necessary, to launch an infringement procedure against those countries that have introduced unilateral bans”, said the European Commission’s trade spokeswoman, Miriam Garcia Ferrer.
Trade policy falls within the exclusive competence of the EU, and unilateral measures by member countries are therefore not justified. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)