Europe tightens customs rules against Ukraine

According to the report of the international group Tasnim news agency, quoted by the German publication “D Site”, so Over the protests of Poland and France, EU ambassadors agreed on new customs rules for some imports from Ukraine. According to diplomats, fewer goods should be duty-free.

In this way, most EU member states, under pressure from farmers, are demanding stricter customs regulations for some food from Ukraine.

The rotating presidency of the European Union in Belgium announced that the ambassadors of the EU countries agreed on a new compromise on the customs requirements for agricultural products of Ukraine. According to diplomats, the law stipulates that fewer goods than previously planned will be allowed to be sold duty-free to the EU. Among the products included in this list are eggs, chicken, sugar and corn. This tightening of requirements also requires a majority in the European Parliament.

EU member states reached a temporary agreement on this before last week. Accordingly, in particular, goods affected by these rules should only be allowed to be imported into the EU duty-free up to a certain amount. If this amount is exceeded, customs duties will be paid again.

The agreement reached last week between the parliament and the EU countries specified that this amount will be based on the average imports in 2022 and 2023. . According to information from diplomatic circles, the reference frame should now also include the second half of 2021. In particular, France and Poland had requested this.

Brand Lange, the head of the European Parliament’s trade committee, criticized this decision of the EU countries. He said: I find this unacceptable. He emphasized: On the one hand, unshakable solidarity with Ukraine is declared, but when it comes to economic stability, the screws are being tightened. “This move is purely emotional to quiet the debate with farmers at home,” Long criticized. He added: It is unacceptable to impose an additional burden on Ukrainians.

The reason for these discussions is that the European Union countries exempted Ukrainian goods from customs duties shortly after the start of Russia’s war against its neighbor. . They wanted to strengthen the economy of this country with this action. In addition, the idea was that if Ukraine’s economy did better, the European Union should pay less aid money to the country under attack. Ukraine’s current customs exemption expires this summer. If new regulations are not found by then, this trade facilitation will no longer be applied. They have blocked the borders. They criticize what they see as disproportionate competition. French and Czech farmers have also recently called for tougher customs rules.

The extent to which tariff cuts will affect the EU market is debatable. Germany’s Federal Agriculture Minister Jem Ozdemir recently said that Ukraine’s defense also depends on “not participating in Putin’s propaganda.” The problem of the drop in grain prices is not due to Ukrainian deliveries. Ozdemir said: There is simply no evidence for this. Whoever says this, please back it up with facts and numbers.

Ukraine is one of the world’s major grain producers. People in poorer countries especially rely on cheap grains from this Eastern European country. Due to Russia’s attack on this neighboring EU country, wheat could not temporarily leave the country by sea, as was the case before. As a result, the price of wheat increased significantly during this period.

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