On Wednesday 8 October, the permanent representatives of the Member States to the EU gave their support to the new version of the EU/Ukraine agreement (DCFTA), concluded by the European Commission and Ukraine in June (see EUROPE 13670/1, 13674/5). Only Hungary and Slovakia voted against the text. The two countries, and others alongside them, have openly rejected the terms of the agreement in recent weeks and called for stronger safeguards to prevent too great an influx of Ukrainian agricultural products into the EU (see EUROPE 13714/9).
Despite the reluctance of a number of capitals, the agreement has been approved by a qualified majority of countries and will now be able to proceed towards adoption. Belgium and Hungary have expressed their concerns in an accompanying statement.
Minor changes have been made to the text adopted by the Member States, according to one source, the details of which are not yet known. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)