Ukraine (bbabo.net), - Italy supports the European Commission’s proposal to extend duty-free import of Ukrainian products for a year, said Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty Francesco Lollobrigida following the results of the Council of EU Ministers of Agriculture in Brussels.
“Today we confirmed to the Ukrainian Minister of Agriculture our support for her cause, but there are balance issues that also need to be found in order to protect our farmers,” Lollobrigida explained to Italian journalists.
“Today we approved the compromise found, which the Belgian presidency is still working on,” the minister said, as quoted by the askanews agency.
Belgium, which holds the presidency of the Council of the EU, expects to soon agree on a new proposal from the European Commission to extend duty-free import of goods from Ukraine into the European Union for a year, Belgian Minister David Clarinval said before the start of the meeting of EU agriculture ministers.
According to Lollobrigida, in addition to Belgium's presidency of the EU Council, the Italian side has met in recent days with representatives of France, Greece, Croatia, Spain and other countries to discuss a common position.
“A compromise is now being developed to meet the demands for price balance on the internal European market, without causing damage to Ukraine. We will wait for Belgium’s proposal, we support a compromise proposal,” said the head of the Italian Ministry of Agriculture.
The International Trade Committee of the European Parliament in March supported the European Commission's proposal to extend duty-free import of goods from Ukraine for a year, until June 5, 2025.
The EU suspended tariffs on all goods coming from Ukraine for a year in June 2022 to help Kyiv increase exports, which has led to problems with sales for European farmers. At the end of May 2023, duty-free import was extended for another year, until June 2024.
At the end of March 2023, five EU countries bordering Ukraine (Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia) appealed to the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, with a request to intervene in the crisis caused by the influx of grain from Ukraine. The European Commission has adopted temporary restrictive measures that aim to eliminate logistical difficulties associated with these products in the border states of the union. They came into force on May 2 and were extended in June until September 15.
On September 15, 2023, the European Commission decided not to extend restrictions on the import of four types of Ukrainian agricultural products into several EU border countries, but obliged Kyiv to introduce export control measures. After this, the authorities of Slovakia, Hungary and Poland announced that they were extending the ban unilaterally. In particular, Hungary extended the ban on a national basis; 24 products were included in the list of prohibited imports. In addition to grains, the list included various types of meat, poultry, eggs, honey, vegetables and wine.
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