On Thursday, 8 May, MEPs green-lit the report by Karin Karlsbro (Renew Europe, Swedish), which exempts Ukraine’s exports to the EU from European safeguard measures on steel for another three years (see EUROPE 13617/6). Ukrainian steel is not subject to the European safeguard until 5 June, since it is exempt under the EU’s Autonomous Trade Measures (ATM) Regulation.
As the European Commission still has not found an alternative solution for Ukrainian exports beyond the ATM Regulation’s expiry on 5 June, it has proposed that the steel issue be sorted out first.
This proposal received support from the European Parliament and the Council of the EU, which adopted it in coordination with one another and without making substantial changes. As a result, co-legislators will not need to go through the ‘interinstitutional negotiations’ stage.
For the remainder of Ukrainian exports and agri-food products in particular, the European Commission suggested on Wednesday, 7 May, that it could propose a transitional solution after 5 June—in the absence of a long-term solution (see EUROPE 13635/14). (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)