Poland seeking adjustments to European Commission's measures regarding Ukraine due to risks to agro-industrial complex
MOSCOW. Feb 1 (Interfax) - Poland's Ministry of Agriculture insists on adjusting the proposal from the European Commission to extend duty-free imports of goods from Ukraine, due to associated risks to the European agricultural market.
Poland's Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry is proposing to adjust threshold restrictions on the import of Ukrainian poultry, eggs, and sugar, and expand tariff quotas for grain crops, rapeseed, berries and fruits as part of the adoption by the European Commission of a draft resolution expanding autonomous trade measures (ATM) for Ukraine, Ukrainian media said quoting the ministry.
"(...) Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Czeslaw Siekierski presented detailed requirements [from Poland] at the EU forum aimed at including solutions in the new regulation which would protect sensitive sectors of the agricultural market from excessive imports from Ukraine," the announcement said.
The ministry said that Siekierski held negotiations with European Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis and several EU agriculture ministers, presenting written demands from Poland at a meeting of the EU Council on Agriculture and Fisheries on January 23.
"The draft of the new regulation will be analyzed in detail to ensure that it takes Poland's requirements into account. Our preliminary analysis allows us to draw the following conclusions: the EC's proposals go in the right direction, but only partially take our requirements into account," the announcement said.
Poland approved the possible introduction of regional measures regarding the import of Ukrainian agricultural products provided for in the draft resolution to extend the ATM. They will apply where imports cause market disruption in one EU Member State or region. This will allow states to avoid having to prove that violations affect the EU as a whole, as is the case under the current rules.
Meanwhile, the Polish Ministry of Agriculture pointed out the length of time it takes for the European Commission to make decisions. The introduction of measures must be preceded by a study of the impact of imports on the market, for which the European Commission allows a maximum of four months, which is too long, Poland said. However, in exceptional situations, the EU would be able to introduce a temporary safeguard measure (for a maximum period of 120 days) within 21 days of receiving a justified request from a Member State. The decision as to whether the temporary safeguard measure is replaced by a permanent measure upon expiration will depend on the results of the import market impact study.
As for separate special protective measures for imports of poultry meat, eggs and sugar from Ukraine with automatic restoration of customs duties when the import threshold is exceeded, the Polish Ministry of Agriculture has proposed using average indicators for 2021-2023 as a base period instead of data for 2022-2023.
"The calculation formula proposed by the EC requires analysis for a more accurate assessment. However, it can already be said that these threshold values are much higher than the quotas arising from the EU-Ukraine agreement and free trade," the commentary says.
In addition, Poland's Ministry of Agriculture announced that in discussions at the EC level, it would defend demands such as the possibility of applying protective measures for Ukrainian imports to all agricultural goods, including those whose imports were completely liberalized before the ATM regulations went into force, namely rapeseed, berries and fruits.
"The draft new resolution says that the possibility of applying protective measures also extends to cereals (such as soft wheat, barley, oats), in addition to those that are already fully liberalized in accordance with the [EU-Ukraine] association agreement (for example, rapeseed, rye or durum wheat). However, the possibility of applying a protective measure will not apply to grains (for example, corn), for which the EU applies zero customs duties on imports from all directions," the Polish Ministry of Agriculture said, proposing to include grain crops in the export licensing mechanism.
As reported, on January 31, the European Commission published a draft resolution extending the duty-free import regime from Ukraine for another year, that is, from June 6, 2024 to June 5, 2025. The measures were first introduced in June 2022.
The Czech Republic previously proposed extending European norms and requirements in agriculture to Ukraine. "If in member states there are conditions for farmers, for example, regarding feed formulations that are used to fatten chickens, then these conditions should also apply to poultry farmers in Ukraine," Czech Agriculture Minister Marek Vyborny said.
The Austrian authorities also made statements. The country's Federal Minister of Agriculture, Regions and Tourism Norbert Tochnig said that supplies of agricultural products from Ukraine create increased competitive pressure on the European market. In this regard, the European Union should take protective measures for "particularly sensitive products" like sugar and eggs, in case there are market disruptions due to increased imports.
In turn, the Polish Minister of Agriculture stated that the negative consequences of imports from Ukraine are now increasingly noticeable in the countries of not only Eastern but also Western Europe and concerns an increasingly wide range of goods, not just grain. France, Austria and Germany are discussing threats to grain, poultry, fruit and sugar markets.
The ministers of agriculture of Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary, in a joint letter to the European Commission in mid-January, demanded the introduction of import duties on Ukrainian grain due its availability at dumping prices.
The duty-free trade regime between Ukraine and the EU, which was introduced in 2022 to reorient a significant part of Ukrainian agricultural exports to Europe, led to cheap food finding its way from Ukraine to its neighboring countries. This sparked protests from local farmers.
Under pressure from these countries, the European Commission was forced to take special measures in May 2023, banning the import of Ukrainian food into these states (specifically, wheat, rapeseed, sunflower and corn). After the ban expired in mid-September, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland introduced prohibitive measures at the national level against the will of the European Commission. Moreover, Poland has expanded the list of products prohibited for import to include rapeseed cake and meal, as well as corn bran, wheat flour and derivative products. Hungary's list increased to 24 product items. Kiev responded by filing a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO). Currently, WTO proceedings are suspended in anticipation of negotiations with the participation of the European Commission.
Negotiations are underway on the introduction by Ukraine of a mechanism for licensing the export of its agricultural products with mandatory verification.