On Monday 8 April, the Council of the EU and the European Parliament successfully renegotiated the terms of the Regulation extending the autonomous trade measures against Ukraine. The previous agreement, reached on 20 March by the negotiators, did not receive the support of the Member States (see EUROPE 13375/9), since the latter ultimately reversed their position (see EUROPE 13380/1). At this second meeting, consensus was not difficult to achieve. The changes called for by the EU Council in recent weeks were close to the position adopted by MEPs.
In addition to the basic principle of extending the liberalisation of trade with Ukraine until June 2025, on Monday 8 April the co-legislators agreed on the arrangements for the automatic safeguard in the Regulation. It will cover poultry, eggs, sugar, oats, maize, groats and honey, as provided for in the first provisional agreement of 20 March.
The change from the previous version is the reference period for import volumes of these products. This now runs from mid-2021 to the end of 2023. Parliament negotiators adopted the EU Council’s position, agreeing to add half of 2021 to the reference period.
In the wake of the trilogue, late on Monday afternoon 8 April, the Committee of Member States’ Representatives to the EU (‘Coreper’) gave the green light to the provisional agreement reached a few minutes earlier.
The text continues its legislative journey, with a vote in the Parliament’s Committee on International Trade on Tuesday 9 April and a vote by all MEPs in plenary between 22 and 25 April. If they give the go-ahead, the text could come into force in time for the current measures to expire at the beginning of June 2024. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)