The Member States’ ambassadors to the EU (‘Coreper’) finally reached a qualified majority to approve the provisional agreement (see EUROPE 13375/9) on autonomous trade measures concerning Ukraine on Wednesday 27 March. The safeguard measure included in the text concerning several Ukrainian agricultural products remained a problem right up to the last minute. On Wednesday 27 March, the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU presented an amended proposal for the provisional agreement, which won over the EU27.
It proposed including the second half of 2021 in the reference period for import volumes not to be exceeded. It now runs from June 2021 to December 2023. The text of the regulation will also be accompanied by a statement from the Commission in support of the reinforced safeguard mechanism.
In the end, four countries came out clearly against the agreement, without being able to form a blocking minority. They also wanted soft wheat and barley to be automatically safeguarded.
The EU Council will now consult Parliament, which for its part had already approved the provisional agreement reached on 20 March and must therefore give its consent to the amended text.
Talks between Kyiv and Warsaw
At the same time, the Ukrainian and Polish governments are in talks to try and unblock the border between them, where Polish farmers are blocking agricultural imports. According to the Polish Minister for Agriculture, Czeslaw Siekierski, the two countries are “moving closer together” to find a lasting solution. Further talks are scheduled for Thursday 28 March. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)